Tables – Keeping Middle Vertical Alignment of Content in tabularray

tablestabularrayvertical alignment

I would like to know what is forcing a middle vertical alignment in the following example in the main table. The inner tables are OK but the outer table does not respect the different alignments, which are defined in the line colspec = {Q[l,t] Q[r,b]}.

Thanks

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{tabularray}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{mathtask}{+b}{%
    \begin{tblr}{
        colspec={Q[r,b,1cm] Q[c,b,1cm] Q[l,mode=math,1cm]},
        vlines,hlines,
    }
    #1
\end{tblr}}{}


\begin{document}

\centering%
\begin{tblr}{
        vlines, hlines,
        columns = {0.5\textwidth-13pt, colsep=6pt},
        rows    = {4cm, rowsep=2pt},
        colspec = {Q[l,t] Q[r,b]},
    }
    \begin{mathtask}
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc\\ddd} & {xx\\yy} & c
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \begin{mathtask}
        {aaa\\bbb} & xxxx & d
    \end{mathtask}
    \\
    \begin{mathtask}
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc\\ddd\\eee\\ff} & {xx\\yy} & e
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \begin{mathtask}
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc} & {xx\\yy} & f
    \end{mathtask}
\end{tblr}

\end{document}

enter image description here

EDIT. The original problem.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}

\newlength{\cwidth}  \setlength{\cwidth}{0.49\textwidth}
\newlength{\cheight} \setlength{\cheight}{0.49\textheight}

\newcommand\tasknumber[1]{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
            inner sep=0pt,outer sep=0pt, minimum size=21pt,
            baseline={([yshift=-3pt]current bounding box.center)},
        ]
        \node [draw,circle,color=white,fill=white!45!black,] {#1};
    \end{tikzpicture}}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{3pt}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{mathtask}{+b}{%
    \begin{tblr}{
        colspec={l l l},
        column{2}={font=\bfseries},
        column{3}={mode=math},
        columns={colsep=3pt},
    }
    #1
    \end{tblr}
}{}

\pagestyle{empty}



\begin{document}

\centering
\begin{tblr}{
        colspec={l l},
        columns={\cwidth-3pt, colsep=3pt},
        rows={\cheight, rowsep=3pt},
        vline{2} = solid,
        hline{2} = solid,
    }
    \begin{mathtask}
        \tasknumber{1} &
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \begin{mathtask}
        \tasknumber{2} &
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 3 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
    \\
    \begin{mathtask}
        \tasknumber{3} &
        Solve the equation: &
        x + y + z = 2
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \begin{mathtask}
        \tasknumber{50} &
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
\end{tblr}

\end{document}

Best Answer

When each cell has only a single line of text in a row, the vertical alignment options t/m/b are the same for this row. This is true also for traditional tabular environment (except that there is still an aligmment bug in tabular environment).

Although mathtask environment consists of a complicated table, TeX still treats it as a box, so those cells are of single line (you can see it more clearly by adding some text before and after mathtask environment). Therefore in outer table for example colspec={Q[t]Q[b]} and colspec={Q[b]Q[m]} and colspec={Q[m]Q[t]} will produce the same result.

I am not sure what you really want from your code. But you could change the alignment of the inner tables:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tabularray}
\NewDocumentEnvironment{mathtask}{O{}+b}{%
    \begin{tblr}[T]{
        colspec={Q[r,#1,1cm] Q[c,#1,1cm] Q[l,mode=math,1cm]},
        vlines,hlines,
    }
    #2
\end{tblr}}{}

\begin{document}

\centering
\begin{tblr}{
        vlines, hlines,
        columns = {0.5\textwidth-13pt, colsep=6pt},
        rows    = {4cm, rowsep=2pt},
        colspec = {Q[l,t] Q[r,b]},
    }
    a\begin{mathtask}[t]
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc\\ddd} & {xx\\yy} & c
    \end{mathtask}b
    &
    a\begin{mathtask}[t]
        {aaa\\bbb} & xxxx & d
    \end{mathtask}b
    \\
    a\begin{mathtask}[b]
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc\\ddd\\eee\\ff} & {xx\\yy} & e
    \end{mathtask}b
    &
    a\begin{mathtask}[b]
        {aaa\\bbb\\ccc} & {xx\\yy} & f
    \end{mathtask}b
\end{tblr}

\end{document}

enter image description here

EDIT: For your original problem, you need to move \tasknumber out of mathtask and set vertical alignment h for these new columns:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{tabularray}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}

\newlength{\cheight} \setlength{\cheight}{0.5\textheight-6.02pt}

\newcommand\tasknumber[1]{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[
            inner sep=0pt,outer sep=0pt, minimum size=21pt,
            baseline={([yshift=-3pt]current bounding box.center)},
        ]
        \node [draw,circle,color=white,fill=white!45!black,] {#1};
    \end{tikzpicture}}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{3pt}

\NewDocumentEnvironment{mathtask}{+b}{%
    \begin{tblr}{
        colspec={ll},
        column{1}={font=\bfseries},
        column{2}={mode=math},
        columns={colsep=3pt},
    }
    #1
    \end{tblr}
}{}

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\centering
\begin{tblr}{
        colspec={Q[h,l]X[l]Q[h,l]X[l]},
        colsep=3pt,
        rows={\cheight, rowsep=3pt},
        vline{3} = solid,
        hline{2} = solid,
    }
    \tasknumber{1} &
    \begin{mathtask}
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \tasknumber{2} &
    \begin{mathtask}
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + = 3 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
    \\
    \tasknumber{3} &
    \begin{mathtask}
        Solve the equation: &
        x + y + z = 2
    \end{mathtask}
    &
    \tasknumber{50} &
    \begin{mathtask}
        Solve the system: &
        \begin{cases}
            x + y + = 1 \\
            x + y + z = 2
        \end{cases}
    \end{mathtask}
\end{tblr}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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