[Tex/LaTex] Multicolumn misplaced \omit problem

errorshorizontal alignmenttables

Okay, I know there are a few questions already about this but I looked at them and tried to get it to work but couldn't, I'm kinda new at this so I dont really have a clue what I'm doing. Anyway here's whats wrong. I want to get a single long header across my columns like this :

_______________________________
             Dataset A
_______________________________
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

This is the code I have

\begin{table}[h]
     \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
     \multicolumn{8}{c}{Dataset A} \\
 L (m) & T (s) & T$^2$ (s$^2$) & L$^{1/2}$ (m$^{1/2}$) & $\Delta$T$^2$ (s$^2$) & $\Delta$T (s) & Fitted T$^2$ (s$^2$)  & Fitted T (s) \\ \hline
    0.2 & 0.626 & 0.392 & 0.447 & 0.006 & 0.005 & 0.394 & 0.662 \\ 
    0.3 & 0.889 & 0.790 & 0.548 & 0.009 & 0.005 & 0.797 & 0.889 \\ 
    0.4 & 1.105 & 1.221 & 0.632 & 0.011 & 0.005 & 1.201 & 1.081 \\ 
    0.5 & 1.261 & 1.590 & 0.707 & 0.013 & 0.005 & 1.604 & 1.250 \\ 
    0.6 & 1.420 & 2.016 & 0.775 & 0.014 & 0.005 & 2.008 & 1.403 \\ 
    0.7 & 1.555 & 2.418 & 0.837 & 0.016 & 0.005 & 2.411 & 1.543 \\ 
    0.8 & 1.679 & 2.819 & 0.894 & 0.017 & 0.005 & 2.814 & 1.674 \\ 
    0.9 & 1.798 & 3.233 & 0.949 & 0.018 & 0.005 & 3.218 & 1.797 \\ 
    1.0 & 1.901 & 3.614 & 1.000 & 0.019 & 0.005 & 3.621 & 1.913 \\ 
    1.1 & 2.000 & 4.000 & 1.049 & 0.020 & 0.005 & 4.025 & 2.023 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

I cant figure out why this wont work, So if anyone could help me I'd really appreciate it. It works fine if I remove the multicolumn line and just typeset it without the heading. Anyway any help would be massively appreciated. Thanks,

Best Answer

You could place \hline at the end of the first and last line. You could use the column format |c| in the multicolumn. Setting \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{3} or some other more appropriate value can get the horizontal rules not to squeeze the lines too much.

\documentclass{article}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
     \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}\hline
     \multicolumn{8}{|c|}{Dataset A} \\\hline
 L (m)  & T (s) & T$^2$ (s$^2$) & L$^{1/2}$ (m$^{1/2}$) & $\Delta$T$^2$ (s$^2$) & $\Delta$T (s) & Fitted T$^2$ (s$^2$) & Fitted T (s) \\ \hline
    0.2 & 0.626 & 0.392         & 0.447                 & 0.006                 & 0.005         & 0.394                & 0.662 \\ 
    0.3 & 0.889 & 0.790         & 0.548                 & 0.009                 & 0.005         & 0.797                & 0.889 \\ 
    0.4 & 1.105 & 1.221         & 0.632                 & 0.011                 & 0.005         & 1.201                & 1.081 \\ 
    0.5 & 1.261 & 1.590         & 0.707                 & 0.013                 & 0.005         & 1.604                & 1.250 \\ 
    0.6 & 1.420 & 2.016         & 0.775                 & 0.014                 & 0.005         & 2.008                & 1.403 \\ 
    0.7 & 1.555 & 2.418         & 0.837                 & 0.016                 & 0.005         & 2.411                & 1.543 \\ 
    0.8 & 1.679 & 2.819         & 0.894                 & 0.017                 & 0.005         & 2.814                & 1.674 \\ 
    0.9 & 1.798 & 3.233         & 0.949                 & 0.018                 & 0.005         & 3.218                & 1.797 \\ 
    1.0 & 1.901 & 3.614         & 1.000                 & 0.019                 & 0.005         & 3.621                & 1.913 \\ 
    1.1 & 2.000 & 4.000         & 1.049                 & 0.020                 & 0.005         & 4.025                & 2.023 \\\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Here's an example where the \arraystretch has been set to 1.5:

enter image description here

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