# Circle of Points with TikZ

I would like to define a series of dots distributed around a circle and be able to define the number of points using tikz. Is it possibile without involving pstricks?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw [draw=red, line width=2pt,dash pattern=on 5pt off 5pt] circle(5cm);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

• Just use polar coordinates and a for loop to specify the angle. – daleif Feb 17 at 10:46
• Try  \foreach\n in {0,10,20,...,360-10} { \fill (\n:1) circle (1pt); } – daleif Feb 17 at 10:48

Something like this --replace black color with red

\documentclass[tikz,border=0.5cm]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}

\foreach \i in {0,5,10,15,20,25,30,...,360}{%
\filldraw [black]  (\i:3cm) circle (0.4pt);}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

## EDIT

Circle centre defined at coord (0,0) and given the name {a}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node (0,0){a};
\foreach \i in {0,5,10,15,20,25,30,...,360}{%
\filldraw [red]  (\i:3cm) circle (0.4pt);}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

To reduce the number of dots in the circle simply reduce the number of the angles to 45--90--360 as below

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node (0,0){a};
\foreach \i in {0,45,90,...,360}{%
\filldraw [blue]  (\i:3cm) circle (1pt);}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
• i) It suffices to write {0,5,...,355}. ii) How do you control the number of points as required by the asker? – Marian G. Feb 17 at 11:29
• Thank you. Just one last thing: what should I do if I want to define the center of the circle? – FlyBob Feb 17 at 11:33
• @FlyBob please see edit – js bibra Feb 17 at 12:58
• @MarianG. please reduce the angular gaps as shown in the edit above to reduce the number of dots in the circle – js bibra Feb 17 at 13:04

Here is my proposition (with comments):

\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\coordinate (c) at (12,3);  % center of circle