\documentclass{article} \usepackage[pdftex,active,tightpage]{preview} \setlength\PreviewBorder{2mm} \usepackage{amsmath,array} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing} \renewcommand\arraycolsep{4pt} % default value: 6pt \newcommand\tikzmark[1]{% \tikz[overlay,remember picture,baseline] \coordinate [anchor=base] (#1);} \newcommand\DrawBrace[3]{% \draw [decorate,decoration={brace,amplitude=3pt,mirror,raise=15pt}] (#1) -- (#2) node [black,midway,sloped,yshift=-10pt] {\footnotesize$#3$}; } \begin{document} \begin{preview} \begin{equation*} \left( \, \begin{array}{r@{}r@{}r r r} % @{} is used twice to suppress intercolumn whitespace \underbrace{ \boxed{ \begin{array}{rrr} % First block 1 & & 0\\ & \ddots & \\ 0 & & 1\\ \end{array} }}_{p} \\ & \underbrace{ \boxed{ \begin{array}{rrr} % Second block -1 & & 0 \\ & \ddots & \\ 0 & & -1\\ \end{array} }}_{q} \\ & & \boxed{ \begin{array}{rr} % Third block \cos \omega_1 & -\sin \omega_1\\ \sin \omega_1 & \cos \omega_1\\ \end{array} } \\ & & & \ddots\\ % Fourth "block" -- not boxed & \tikzmark{a}& & & \boxed{ \begin{array}{rr} % Fifth block \cos \omega_r & -\sin \omega_r\\ \sin \omega_r & \cos \omega_r\\ \end{array} } \tikzmark{b} \\ \end{array}\,\right) \end{equation*} \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay] \DrawBrace{a}{b}{r} \end{tikzpicture} \end{preview} \end{document}