[Tex/LaTex] Centering an image and a two-column layout.

graphicshorizontal alignmentpositioningtwo-column

Here's what I'd like to do. Place a centered image, and then have two columns of text centered below it. I did the following:

\begin{center}
\includegraphics{image}

\begin{multicols}{2}
lots of text
\end{multicols}
\end{center}

All that happens is that the image is centered, but the two column block is aligned left. I tried variants where I used two center environments, one for the image and one for the multicol. I also tried using \centering instead, and even tried encapsulating the multicol inside a minipage. All to no avail.

It's a minor issue, but it's driving me nuts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update: Here's an MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=3in]{plan}
\end{center}
    \begin{multicols}{2}
        \begin{enumerate}
\item 1
\item 2
\item 3
\item 4
\item 5
\item 6
\item 7
\item 8
\item 9
\item 10
\item 11
\item 12
\item 13
\end{enumerate}
    \end{multicols}
\end{document}

which produces this:Example of bad centering

Best Answer

The multicols needs to be smaller than the outer text so it can be centered. This can be done by using the minipage environment with a smaller width then \textwidth. If it has the same width it is technically already centered when printed with justification. I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for. Using a enumeration environment with short text like in your MWE is not a good way to show that. Enumerations are differently aligned than normal text.

Here my code which includes some normal text and an enumeration. The blindtext package is used to insert some dummy text.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\blindtext
\begin{center}
  \includegraphics[width=3in]{plan}
  \begin{minipage}{3in}
    \begin{multicols}{2}
        \blindtext
    \end{multicols}
  \end{minipage}
  \begin{minipage}{3in}
    \begin{multicols}{2}
        \begin{enumerate}
            \item 1
            \item 2
            \item 3
            \item 4
            \item 5
            \item 6
            \item 7
            \item 8
            \item 9
            \item 10
            \item 11
            \item 12
            \item 13
        \end{enumerate}
    \end{multicols}
  \end{minipage}
\end{center}
\blindtext
\end{document}

Result

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