# LateX typeset colorbar annotations

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/latex-typeset-colorbar-annotations/4608
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [June 17, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/latex-typeset-colorbar-annotations/4608 "2020-06-17T16:55:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![dutta-alankar](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/dutta-alankar/32/13310_2.png) [@dutta-alankar](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/dutta-alankar)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/latex-typeset-colorbar-annotations/4608/1 "2020-06-17T16:55:06Z")

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Using format strings like %e or %g I can have “scientific notation”

What is the simplest way to format the number in LaTeX format, i.e. 1\times10^{9} (1\times10^{9} instead of 1.0e+09) automatically in places where numbers are displayed Paraview, for example in colorbar level annotations?

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/cory.quammen/32/11193_2.png) [@cory.quammen](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cory.quammen)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/latex-typeset-colorbar-annotations/4608/2 "2020-06-17T18:34:21Z")

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You can embed latex expressions inside $$ like you would for inline equations in LaTeX.

 ![image](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/6/6dc85593e0db1e549ab19af9ce47147e2f713c64.png)

However, that applies only to custom annotations, not the automatically generated tick labels. There isn’t currently a way to use LaTeX expression formatting for the tick labels.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![dutta-alankar](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/dutta-alankar/32/13310_2.png) [@dutta-alankar](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/dutta-alankar)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/latex-typeset-colorbar-annotations/4608/3 "2020-06-17T19:12:56Z")

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I see. I was more interested in using this format in auto generated labels.

Something similar to this on the auto generated labels will also do the job for me

```auto
def latex_float(f):
    float_str = "{0:.2g}".format(f)
    if "e" in float_str:
        base, exponent = float_str.split("e")
        return r"${0} \times 10^{{{1}}}$".format(base, int(exponent))
    else:
        return float_str

```

Testing:

```auto
>>> latex_float(-1.5e-9)
'$-1.5 \\times 10^{-9}$'
>>> latex_float(1.e-9)
'$1 \\times 10^{-9}$'
>>> latex_float(1.e9)
'$1 \\times 10^{9}$'
>>> latex_float(1.e+09)
'$1 \\times 10^{9}$'

```