Labels and Captions

In GeoGebra, each object has its unique label. For labeling you can choose one or more letters, possibly with subscript. For details see Naming Objects.

Show and Hide Labels

You can show or hide the objects labels in the Graphics View in different ways:

Select the Show / Hide Label Tool and select the object whose label you would like to show or hide.
Open the Context Menu for the desired object and select Show Label.
Open the Properties Dialog for the desired object and check or un-check the checkbox Show Label on tab Basic.

Name and Value

In GeoGebra, every object has a unique name that can be used to label the object in the Graphics View. In addition, an object can also be labeled using its value or its name and value. You can change this label setting in the Properties Dialog on tab Basic by selecting the corresponding option Name, Value, or Name & Value from the drop down menu next to the checkbox Show Label.

The value of a point is its coordinates, while the value of a function is its equation.

Caption

However, sometimes you might want to give several objects the same label, for example, to label the four edges of a square a. In this case, GeoGebra offers captions for all objects, in addition to the three labeling options mentioned above. You can set the caption of an object on tab Basic of the Properties Dialog by entering the desired caption into the text field called "Caption". Afterwards, you can select the labeling option "Caption" from the drop down menu next to the checkbox "Show Label".

You can use following placeholders in captions:

Placeholder	Meaning
%c	The value of the adjacent spreadsheet cell (to the right), which should be an independent textNot dynamic: i.e. the caption won’t be updated unless you press F9 or Ctrl + R
%v	Value
%n	Name
%d	Description
%f	Definition
%x	x coordinate (or x coefficient for the line a x + b y + c = 0)
%y	y coordinate (or y coefficient for the line a x + b y + c = 0)
%z	z coordinate (or constant c' term for the line a x + b y + c = 0)

Placeholder

Meaning

The value of the adjacent spreadsheet cell (to the right), which should be an independent textNot dynamic: i.e. the caption won’t be updated unless you press F9 or Ctrl + R

Value

Name

Description

Definition

x coordinate (or x coefficient for the line a x + b y + c = 0)

y coordinate (or y coefficient for the line a x + b y + c = 0)

z coordinate (or constant c' term for the line a x + b y + c = 0)

Let A be a point and (1,2) be its coordinates. Setting the caption to "Point %n has coordinates %v" results in caption "Point A has coordinates (1,2)"

LaTeX in Captions

You can also use LaTeX in your labels, enclosing the desired LaTeX command in dollar characters (e.g. $ x^{2} $ ), and choose from a list of most commonly used Greek letters and operators, just clicking on the little box displayed at the end of the Caption field.

If you want to display a nicely formatted math text, use LaTeX in captions, e.g. to display a fraction like $ \frac{a}{b} $, in the caption field type: $\frac{a}{b}$ .