Positioning in tikzpicture

I'm trying a very simple use of tikzpicture for drawing an ellipse. My problem is that when I change the coordinates -- say from (0,0) to (10,0) -- nothing happens, i.e., position of the ellipse does not change. Any ideas why?

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) ellipse (2cm and .5cm);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

• Welcome to TeX.SE! The posisioning in tikzpicture is relative. You have to give one point as base (lets say in a \path command) so that the next point will be moved relative to your start point. See my example. – koleygr Oct 13 '17 at 19:47
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According to my comment: "the posisioning in tikzpicture is relative. You have to give one point as base (lets say in a \path command) so that the next point will be moved relative to your start point."

Test code:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\begin{center}
\fbox{
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node at (0,0) {};
\draw (0,0) ellipse (2cm and .5cm);
\end{tikzpicture}}
\end{center}

\begin{center}
\fbox{
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node at (0,0){};
\draw (5,3) ellipse (2cm and .5cm);
\end{tikzpicture}}
\end{center}

\end{frame}
\end{document}


In the first image the minimum x= -2 and maximum =2 from the ellipse. In the second the ellipse starts from x=(5-2)=3 and ends to x=(5+2)=7, but xminimum=0 from the \node command, so the ellipse will be moved 3 cm right. Also ymin=0 (from the node) but ellipse is between y=(3-0.5)=2.5 amd y=(3+0.5)=3.5cm...

Hope that explained what you need.

Output:

So, a good practice is to use empty nodes in xmin, xmax, ymin and ymax and then everything will be as expected. (a rectangle path like \path (x1,y1) rectangle (x2,y2); would be a shorter and better option if you are familiar with that.)

• You are welcome @Asaf. If your question is answered, please accept the answer you prefer by clicking the tick on its left. – koleygr Oct 13 '17 at 21:18

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[black,thin,xshift=0cm,yshift=0cm] (0,0) grid (4,4);
\draw (1,1) ellipse (2cm and 1cm);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}