# Could someone help me draw the Curly bracket for the tabular like this?

Hi guys, I am trying to draw curly bracket like this by using \multirow command but i can't enlarge the curly bracket, can someone help me out?

Here is the commands:

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ r m{2pt} c |c |c |c |c |}
&\multicolumn{1}{ c }{}&\multicolumn{1}{ c }{} &\multicolumn{4}{ c }{\texttt{\tabincell{c}{Element\\numbers($\ve$)}}} \\
&\multicolumn{1}{ c }{}&\multicolumn{1}{ c }{} &\multicolumn{4}{ c }{$\overbrace{\,\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad}$} \\[-5pt]

& \multicolumn{1}{ c }{} &\multicolumn{1}{ c }{}& \multicolumn{1}{ c }{1}& \multicolumn{1}{ c }{2}& \multicolumn{1}{ c }{3}& \multicolumn{1}{ c }{4} \\ \cline{4-7}
\multirow{4}{*}{\texttt{Local node numbers($a$)}\hspace{-8pt}} & \multirow{4}{*}{$\left.\left\{ \right.\right.\hspace{-10pt}$}
& 1 & 1 & 1 & 4 & 8 \\ \cline{4-7}
& & 2 & 2 & 3 & 3 & 6 \\ \cline{4-7}
& & 3 & 8 & 4 & 5 & 5 \\ \cline{4-7}
& & 4 & 7 & 2 & 6 & 7 \\ \cline{4-7}
\end{tabular}
\end{center}


Thanks

• Welcome to TeX.SX! Can you show your best attempt? – egreg Feb 2 '15 at 21:41
• At least provide code that would construct an ordinary table in a specific \documentclass. Recreating something from scratch shouldn't be left to the community. – Werner Feb 2 '15 at 21:49
• $\big\lbrace\Big\lbrace\bigg\lbrace\Bigg\lbrace$ – touhami Feb 2 '15 at 21:59
• What are the commands \ve and \numbers? – Bernard Feb 2 '15 at 23:02
• There must be a clearer way to explain this information. Unless you are required to use this layout against your will, you might want to read the documentation of the booktabs package and see if you come up with something easier to read. – Benjamin McKay Feb 3 '15 at 6:54

## 2 Answers

Just out of curiosity and for fun on how to draw the image shown by the OP. This is an attempt via homemade tikzmark, brace decoration from tikzlibrary with related macros like link and sidelink.

Code

\documentclass[border=5cm]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz,array,calc}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing}

\newcommand\tikzmark[2]{%
\tikz[remember picture,overlay]
\node[inner sep=0pt,outer sep=2pt] (#1){#2};%
}
\newcommand\link[3]{%
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\draw [decorate,decoration={brace,amplitude=5pt,raise=1pt}]
(#1.north west)--(#2.north east) node[above=5pt,midway,text width=2cm,align=center]{#3};
\end{tikzpicture}%
}

\newcommand\sidelink[4]{%
\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
\draw [decorate,decoration={brace,amplitude=3pt,raise=1pt,mirror}]
(#1.west)--(#2.west) node[left=0.3cm,midway, align=center](#3){#4};
\end{tikzpicture}%
}

\def\cwidth{0.5cm}

\newcolumntype{C}[1]{>{\centering\arraybackslash\hspace{0pt}}m{#1}}

\begin{document}
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{c C{1.5cm} c |C{\cwidth}|C{\cwidth}|C{\cwidth}|C{\cwidth}|@{}C{0pt}@{}}
&& \multicolumn{1}{l}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\tikzmark{b}{1}}
& \multicolumn{1}{c}{\tikzmark{}{2}} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\tikzmark{}{3}}
& \multicolumn{1}{c}{\tikzmark{e}{4}}\\[1ex]\cline{4-7}
\tikzmark{aa}{1}&&\tikzmark{b1}{1} & $0^\star$ & 1 & 4 & 8 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
2                       &&\tikzmark{c1}{2} & 0 & 3 & 3 & 6 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
3                       &&\tikzmark{d1}{1} & 1 & 4 & 5 & 5 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
4                       &&\tikzmark{e1}{2} & 2 & 2 & 6 & 7 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
5                       &&\tikzmark{f1}{1}  & 6 & 4 & 5 & 5 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
6                       &&\tikzmark{g1}{2} & 7 & 2 & 6 & 7 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
7                       &&\tikzmark{h1}{1} & 4 & 4 & 5 & 5 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
\tikzmark{bb}{8}&&\tikzmark{i1}{2}  & 5 & 2 & 6 & 7 & \\  [2ex]\cline{4-7}
\end{tabular}

\link{b}{e}{Element \\ numbers ($v$)}
\sidelink{b1}{c1}{}{1}
\sidelink{d1}{e1}{}{2}
\sidelink{f1}{g1}{}{3}
\sidelink{h1}{i1}{aaa}{4}
\sidelink{aa}{bb}{cc}{}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
\draw[<-] (cc) -| ++(-1.5,-4);
\draw[<-] (aaa) -- ++(0,-2);
\draw[<-] (i1) |- ++(0.5,-1)node[right,text width=2cm]{Element \\ $1 \le i \le n_{ed}$ };
\node[below] at (bb){($n_{ee}=8$)};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

• great, are you working on FEA? – Di Miao Feb 3 '15 at 15:52
• Thanks, I am afraid not, if FEA means Finite Element Analysis. – Jesse Feb 3 '15 at 16:40

use ldelim from the package bigdelim:

\documentclass[border=2mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bigdelim}
\usepackage{MnSymbol}

\begin{document}

$\begin{array}{ccc|c|c|c|c|} & & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{\begin{minipage}[c][10mm][c]{17mm}\begin{center}\texttt{Element} \\ \texttt{numbers($v$)} \\$\overbrace{\hspace*{17.5mm}}$\end{center} \end{minipage}} \\ & & \multicolumn{1}{c}{} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{1} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{2} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{3} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{4} \\ \cline{4-7} \multirow{4}{18.5mm}{\texttt{Local node numbers($a$)}}& \ldelim\{{4}{.1mm} & 1 & 1 & 1 & 4 & 8 \\ \cline{4-7} & & 2 & 2 & 3 & 3 & 6 \\ \cline{4-7} & & 3 & 8 & 4 & 5 & 5 \\ \cline{4-7} & & 4 & 7 & 2 & 6 & 7 \\ \cline{4-7} \end{array}$

\end{document}