## 2009-10-22

### Design and print your own geek clock with LaTeX and TikZ

Would you like to have your custom clock for geeks (geek clock, math clock)? You can
design and print the front plate of your own analog geek clock using LaTeX and TikZ. Here is how I did it (download):

% geek_clock.tex% by pts@fazekas.hu at Thu Oct 22 14:24:35 CEST 2009\documentclass[a4paper]{article}\usepackage{tikz}\usepackage[latin2]{inputenc}\usepackage{t1enc}\usepackage{lmodern}\pdfpagewidth=\paperwidth\pdfpageheight=\paperheight\newenvironment{fullpage}{%  \shipout\vbox\bgroup\kern-1in\moveleft1in\vbox to\paperheight\bgroup  \parindent0pt\hsize\paperwidth}{%  \vfil\egroup\egroup}\begin{document}% Define a few constants for easy configuration\def\framehalf{9.2cm}\def\radius{8.8cm}\def\onedegrad{8.6cm}\def\fivedegrad{8.5cm}\def\tendegrad{8.2cm}\def\labelrad{8.3cm}\begin{fullpage}  \vfil\noindent\hfil  \begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1]    \draw (-\framehalf,-\framehalf) --          (\framehalf,-\framehalf) --          (\framehalf,\framehalf) --          (-\framehalf,\framehalf) -- cycle;    \draw (0,0) circle (\framehalf);    \draw (0,0) circle (\radius);    \draw[fill=black] (0,0) circle (2.5mm);    \node[draw, circle, inner sep=.2mm] (a) at (0,0) {};    % main lines    \foreach \x in {0, 6,...,360}        \draw[line width=1.5pt] (\x:\onedegrad) -- (\x:\radius);    % labels and longer lines at every 6 degrees    \foreach \x in {30, 60, ...,  360} {        \draw[line width=4pt] (\x:\tendegrad) -- (\x:\radius);    }    \node[scale=3,anchor=north east] at (450-1*30:\labelrad)      {$B'_L$\kern-1ex};    \node[scale=2.5,anchor=east] at (450-2*30:\labelrad)      {\lower8ex\hbox{$\displaystyle \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}1/2^i$\kern-2ex}};    \node[scale=3,anchor=east] at (450-3*30:\labelrad)      {$7\odot-5$};    \node[scale=3,anchor=south east] at (450-4*30:\labelrad)      {$\lceil\pi\rceil$};    \node[scale=3,anchor=south east] at (450-5*30:\labelrad)      {$(2\varphi-1)^2$\kern-4ex};    \node[scale=3,anchor=south] at (450-6*30:\labelrad)      {$3!$};    \node[scale=3,anchor=south west] at (450-7*30:\labelrad)      {$\!6.\overline{9}$};    \node[scale=4,anchor=west] at (450-8*30:\labelrad)      {\raise1ex\hbox{${\bullet}{\circ}{\circ}{\circ}$}};    \node[scale=2.5,anchor=west] at (450-9*30:\labelrad)      {$\lfloor(7\cdot.1\!-\!.7)^{\textrm{-6e-2}}\rfloor$};    \node[scale=2.5,anchor=west] at (450-10*30:\labelrad)      {\lower6ex\hbox{$\displaystyle{5\choose2}$}};    \node[scale=2.5,anchor=north west] at (450-11*30:\labelrad)      {\lower3ex\hbox{\kern-3ex$7^5\mathop{\mathrm{mod}} 13$}};    \node[scale=3,anchor=north] at (450-12*30:\labelrad)      {$\sqrt[3]{1728}$};  \end{tikzpicture}\end{fullpage}\end{document}
I used pdflatex and TikZ in TeX Live 2008 to compile the file above to a PDF file, which I printed, cut and glued to a stock clock.

The PDF version of the clock face is available here. It looks like this:

References:

Annchen said...

Awesome!

Ruud said...

Hi,

although this is an old item ; could you help me with a new "this is how I did it" download link since the current one is not working anymore.

Thanks,
Ruud

pts said...