[Tex/LaTex] Better vertical space between paragraphs and centered tabular or figure

paragraphsspacingtables

When I need to place a tabular or figure inside a paragraph (usually in exams or class notes) I use {\par\centering <tabular>/<figure>\par} because center environment uses too much vertical space. But I don't like my solution because tabular or figure are too close to previous and following paragraphs. I would like that vertical space between figures and paragraphs was similar to the one between lines. How can I do it?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{mwe}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

\lipsum[2]

{\par\centering
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\toprule
a & b & c\\
\midrule
1 & 2 & 3\\
4 & 5 & 6\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}\par}

\lipsum[2]

{\par\centering
\includegraphics[width=.75\linewidth]{example-image}\par}

\lipsum[2]

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Define your own environment:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{mwe}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\newenvironment{rcenter}
 {\setlength{\topsep}{.5ex}\center}
 {\endcenter}

\begin{document}

\lipsum[2]
\begin{rcenter}
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\toprule
a & b & c\\
\midrule
1 & 2 & 3\\
4 & 5 & 6\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{rcenter}
\lipsum[2]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ccc}
\toprule
a & b & c\\
\midrule
1 & 2 & 3\\
4 & 5 & 6\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\lipsum[2]
\begin{rcenter}
\includegraphics[width=.75\linewidth]{example-image}
\end{rcenter}

\lipsum[2]

\end{document}

enter image description here

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