How to fix the problem, dimension too large although the tikzpicture is fit on the page?

Question

\documentclass[10pt]{book}
\usepackage[paperheight=9in,paperwidth=7in, top=1in, bottom=0.8in, twocolumn, twoside]{geometry}
\setlength{\columnseprule}{0.4pt}
\usepackage{tikz-cd}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usepackage[centertags]{amsmath}
%\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{graphicx}\graphicspath{{Graphics/}}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage[square,sort&compress]{natbib}
\usepackage{pgf,tikz,pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.15}
%\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows}
%\usepackage{amssymb,latexsym}
%\usepackage{amsfonts,amsmath}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{textcomp}
%\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{latexsym}
%\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage[arrow,frame,matrix]{xy}
%\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.5}
\newcommand\aug{\fboxsep=-\fboxrule\!\!\!\fbox{\strut}\!\!\!}
\theoremstyle{definition}
\newtheorem{Thm}{Theorem}[section]
\newtheorem{lem}[Thm]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{pro}[Thm]{Proposition}
\newtheorem{de}[Thm]{Definition}
\newtheorem{re}[Thm]{Remark}
\newtheorem{ex}[Thm]{Example}
\newtheorem{cor}[Thm]{Corollary}
\numberwithin{equation}{section}
\definecolor{uuuuuu}{rgb}{0.26666666666666666,0.26666666666666666,0.26666666666666666}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[line cap=round,line join=round,>=triangle 45,x=0.70cm,y=0.70cm]
    \begin{axis}[
    x=0.70cm,y=0.70cm,
    axis lines=middle,
    xmin=-2.5,
    xmax=4.2,
    ymin=-0.5,
    ymax=4.5,
    xtick={-2.0,-1.0,...,4.0},
    ytick={-0.0,1.0,...,4.0},]
    \clip(-2.5,-0.5) rectangle (4.2,4.5);
    \draw[line width=1.0pt,smooth,samples=100,domain=-2.5:4.2] plot(\x,{(\x)^(2.0)});
    \draw[line width=1.0pt,smooth,samples=100,domain=-2.5:4.2] plot(\x,{(\x)^(4.0)});
    \draw[line width=1.0pt,smooth,samples=100,domain=-2.5:4.2] plot(\x,{(\x)^(6.0)});
    \draw [line width=1.0pt] (1.4070657529753525,1.9798340331960957)-- (2.593941214963645,1.978475622020055);
    \draw [line width=1.0pt] (1.2953304783336062,2.81528481157305)-- (3.041192850857456,2.80084143919352);
    \draw [line width=1.0pt] (1.2392646000958023,3.6222987404404536)-- (2.997910434480636,3.5943523154135297);
    \draw (2.6829479881822733,2.412164593764555) node[anchor=north west] {${\small y=x^2}$};
    \draw (2.9931087994563645,3.306157418205916) node[anchor=north west] {${\small y=x^4}$};
    \draw (2.9931087994563645,4.017702727455162) node[anchor=north west] {${\small y=x^6}$};
    \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

The tikzpicture is fit in the column not crossing the page anywhere, but still I am getting the error. I can't work with sizes bigger than about 19 feet. Continue and I'll use the largest value I can.

! Dimension too large. How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

Although the comments on your question are correct, the solution to your problem is easier.

You restrict the vertical axis with ymax but the draw commands you are using to plot have horizontal domains that (for the given functions) result in values that are far outside (above) the border of the picture that is actually printed. Hence, the error dimension too large.

Set domain=-2.3:2.3 and it all works fine.

Answer 2

You can restricted function values, i.e. y, to domain defined by restrict y to domain=<min>:<max>:

\documentclass[twocolumn, twoside]{book}
\usepackage[paperheight=9in,paperwidth=7in, 
            top=1in, bottom=0.8in]{geometry}
\setlength{\columnseprule}{0.4pt}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{textcomp}

\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.17}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows,
                intersections}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
line cap=round, line join=round,
>=triangle 45]
\begin{axis}[
    x=0.7 cm,y=0.7 cm,
    axis lines=middle,
    xlabel=$x$,
    ylabel=$y$,
    label style = {anchor=west},
    xmin=-3.3,  xmax=3.3,
    ymin=-0.5,  ymax=4.5,
    restrict y to domain=-0.5:4,    % <---
    clip=false,
    xtick={-3,-1,...,3},
    ytick={0,1,...,4},
    samples=400,
    domain=-3:3,
    no marks,
every axis plot post/.append style={line width=1.0pt, 
                                    color=blue!50}
            ]
\addplot [name path=c2] {(x)^2};
\addplot [name path=c4] {(x)^4};
\addplot [name path=c6] {(x)^6};
%
\path [name path=C2] (0,3.5) -- (2.5,3.5);
\path [name path=C4] (0,3.0) -- (2.5,3.0);
\path [name path=C6] (0,2.5) -- (2.5,2.5);
%
\coordinate (n) at (2.5,0);
\draw [name intersections={of=c2 and C2, by=a}, <-]
        (a) -- (a -| n) node[right] {$y=x^2$};
\draw [name intersections={of=c4 and C4, by=b}, <-]
        (b) -- (b -| n) node[right] {$y=x^4$};
\draw [name intersections={of=c6 and C6, by=c}, <-]
        (c) -- (c -| n) node[right] {$y=x^6$};
\end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

As you can observe, the code for labeling of curves is written from scratch. It employ intersections TikZ library, so no need to manually calculated arrows for positioning of arrows and labels.