alignhorizontal alignment
Basically, I'm writing solution for the exercises on the textbook. And I want something like this:
As you can see, sub-problems are aligned after the problem number and the formulas are aligned after each sub-problems.
I've tried \tabular but I can't get what I wanted. Any suggestion?
enumerate might be one solution. In that case I would use the enumitem package to customize the list according to the requirements.
For longer solutions, you could better customize the sectioning. For this, I would use titlesec. Here's a short example for such hanging headings and formatting like in your comment below:
\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\titleformat{\section}{\normalfont\slshape}{\makebox[2em][r]{\textbf{\thesection.}}}{1em}{}
\titlespacing*{\section}{-3em}{3.5ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{2.3ex plus .2ex}
\renewcommand*{\thesection}{\arabic{section}}
\begin{document}
\chapter{One}
This is the left margin.
\section{This is the first problem.}
This is the solution.
\section{This problem follows.}
\addtocounter{section}{7}
\section{This is the tenth problem.}
\end{document}
Here \makebox puts the label into a box of fixed width and aligned to the right. Other values cause the overhanging into the left margin.
Another possible solution:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\newcommand\MyHeadings[3]{%
\multicolumn{2}{@{}p{0.45\textwidth}@{}}{#1} & #2 & #3 \tabularnewline
}
\newcommand\Description[1]{%
\textbullet & \multicolumn{3}{@{}p{0.97\textwidth}@{}}{#1}\tabularnewline}
\begin{document}
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{@{}p{0.03\textwidth}@{}p{0.42\textwidth}@{}p{0.3\textwidth}@{}>{\raggedleft}p{0.25\textwidth}@{}}
\MyHeadings{Avian Influenza}{Tamiflu}{Jan 2, 2011}
\Description{stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff}
\Description{stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff}
\MyHeadings{Chicken pox}{DrugXYZ}{Feb 3, 1998}
\Description{stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff}
\Description{stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff}
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
And yet another option: tabular is only used for the words requiring alignment, the descriptions are left to an itemize environment (customized with the help of enumitem):
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{array}
\setitemize{leftmargin=*,nolistsep}
\newcommand\MyHeadings[3]{%
\noindent\begin{tabular} {@{}p{0.45\textwidth}@{}p{0.3\textwidth}@{}>{\raggedleft}p{0.25\textwidth}@{}}
#1 & #2 & #3
\end{tabular}\par
}
\begin{document}
\MyHeadings{Avian Influenza}{Tamiflu}{Jan 2, 2011}
\begin{itemize}
\item stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff
\item stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff
\end{itemize}
\MyHeadings{Chicken pox}{DrugXYZ}{Feb 3, 1998}
\begin{itemize}
\item stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff
\item stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff
\end{itemize}
\end{document}
Best Answer
To accomplish a result that is nicely aligned it is easy to use the
alignenvironment, which is part of theamsmathpackage.You can accomplish this with the following code:
The
mathtoolspackage is used, because it is needed for thedcasesenvironment in the answer for(a). Themathtoolspackage automatically loads theamsmathpackage that you also need.The result looks like this: