# Drawing a circle in the complex plane.

I would like to draw the set of points in the complex plane that satisfies $|z-1+i| <= 3$ using LaTeX (with TikZ, or some related system). I would want to fill this circle with say dashed lines, or something of the sort, so that it's not "completely" filled. I would also want the axis labeled. I have no idea on how to do this properly, unfortunately. Could anyone tell me how, or supply me with some reference? Would be perfect.

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You can do it as follows. See the comments in the code for explanations:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{scope}[thick,font=\scriptsize]
% Axes:
% Are simply drawn using line with the -> option to make them arrows:
% The main labels of the axes can be places using nodes:
\draw [->] (-5,0) -- (5,0) node [above left]  {$\Re\{z\}$};
\draw [->] (0,-5) -- (0,5) node [below right] {$\Im\{z\}$};

% Axes labels:
% Are drawn using small lines and labeled with nodes. The placement can be set using options
\iffalse% Single
% If you only want a single label per axis side:
\draw (1,-3pt) -- (1,3pt)   node [above] {$1$};
\draw (-1,-3pt) -- (-1,3pt) node [above] {$-1$};
\draw (-3pt,1) -- (3pt,1)   node [right] {$i$};
\draw (-3pt,-1) -- (3pt,-1) node [right] {$-i$};
\else% Multiple
% If you want labels at every unit step:
\foreach \n in {-4,...,-1,1,2,...,4}{%
\draw (\n,-3pt) -- (\n,3pt)   node [above] {$\n$};
\draw (-3pt,\n) -- (3pt,\n)   node [right] {$\n i$};
}
\fi
\end{scope}
% The circle is drawn with (x,y) circle (radius)
% You can draw the outer border and fill the inner area differently.
% Here I use gray, semitransparent filling to not cover the axes below the circle
\path [draw=none,fill=gray,semitransparent] (+1,-1) circle (3);
% Place the equation into the circle:
\node [below right,gray] at (+1,-1) {$|z-1+i| \leq 3$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}


There is also the patterns library which allows you to fill the circle with several different patterns, but personally I would prefer semi-transparent fillings.

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@Jasper: That's correct. I added that labels at the very end and didn't thought about that. –  Martin Scharrer May 15 '11 at 18:00
@MartinScharrer: Very nice! I added your example to the TikZ gallery: A circle in the complex plane Is this ok for you? –  Stefan Kottwitz Jan 6 '12 at 23:00
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pst-plot}
\begin{document}

\begin{pspicture}(-5,-5)(5,5)
\psaxes{->}(0,0)(-4,-4)(4,4)[Re($z$),-90][Im($z$),180]
\pscircle*[linecolor=red,opacity=0.3](1,-1){3}
\end{pspicture}

\end{document}


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true, but I defined the equation as y=Re(x)+Im(x) ... :-)) –  Herbert May 15 '11 at 18:15

You could use the PGFPlots package for this. By using the option disabledatascaling, you can draw objects using \node and \draw and the like with the axis coordinates:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{pgfplots}

\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[
xmin=-4.5,
xmax=4.5,
ymin=-4.5,
ymax=4.5,
axis equal,
axis lines=middle,
xlabel=Re($z$),
ylabel=Im($z$),
disabledatascaling]