[Tex/LaTex] Why won’t [t] option align minipage text at top

floatsminipagevertical alignment

When I compile the following, the text in the second minipage of the figure is typeset with center vertical alignment despite the fact that I've specified the t option for minipage. Is there something simple I'm doing wrong here?

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[colorlinks=true]{hyperref}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[rm, small, sc]{titlesec}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\usepackage[margin=1cm, font=small]{caption}
\usepackage[rightcaption]{sidecap}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h]
    \begin{minipage}[]{.63\textwidth}
        \includegraphics[scale = 1]{gas_half_container}
    \end{minipage}%
    \begin{minipage}[t]{0.35\textwidth}
        \small{Initially the gas is one one side of the container and is in equilibrium.}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

Best Answer

The first minipage doesn't have a [t] placement option and (that's the main reason) the base line, for a graphic file, is the bottom of the graphic. A simple \raisebox will solve the problem. I don't have your graphic file so I replaced it with one of mine:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[colorlinks=true]{hyperref}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage[rm, small, sc]{titlesec}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subcaption}
\usepackage[margin=1cm, font=small]{caption}
\usepackage[rightcaption]{sidecap}

\begin{document}

\begin{figure}[h]
  \begin{minipage}[t]{.63\textwidth}
    \centering \raisebox{\dimexpr-\height+1.5ex\relax}{\includegraphics[scale=1]{dejeuner1}}
  \end{minipage}%
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.35\textwidth}
    \small{Initially the gas is one one side of the container and is in equilibrium.}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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