How to use coordinate in tikz?

Question

The following is my code:

\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=5cm,auto,>=latex', scale = 0.75, transform shape]



\coordinate (a1) [] {};
\node (rect) (a) [draw,minimum width=3cm,minimum height=1cm, below of=a1,node distance=1cm] {Sender};
\node[rectangle] (b) [draw,minimum width=3cm,minimum height=1cm, below of=a,node distance=2cm] {Receiver};
\coordinate (b1) [below=2cm of b] {};
\path[->] (a) edge node {  $f$ } (b);
\path[->] (a1) edge node {  $f$ } (a);
\path[->] (b) edge node {  $f$ } (b1);
\end{tikzpicture}

I am getting the following output:

I want one arrow from Receiver to b1.

Can anyone tell me my mistake?

Answer 1

You are defining coordinate in a bad way. You should do this:

\coordinate [below=2cm of b] (b1) {};

This way, your code works for me.

So, your complete code should look this way:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning,arrows}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[node distance=5cm,auto,>=latex', scale = 0.75, transform shape]
\coordinate (a1) {};
\node (rect) (a) [draw,minimum width=3cm,minimum height=1cm, below of=a1,node distance=1cm] {Sender};
\node[rectangle] (b) [draw,minimum width=3cm,minimum height=1cm, below of=a,node distance=2cm] {Receiver};
\coordinate[below=2cm of b] (b1)  {};
\path[->] (a) edge node {  $f$ } (b);
\path[->] (a1) edge node {  $f$ } (a);
\path[->] (b) edge node {  $f$ } (b1);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

And the result is this: