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An Example

minipage creates a miniature page complete with its own footnotes etc. It can be created to any set width. Footnotes within a minipage use a different counter to other footnotes¹. This example ensures that all the numbers follow on in sequence. The footnotes in minipages are marked by letters rather than numbers, so here the type is changed to arabic.

\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
% Set the minipage footnote counter
\setcounter{mpfootnote}{\value{footnote}}
% Redefine the command that produces the footnote number
\renewcommand{\thempfootnote}{\arabic{mpfootnote}}
\begin{tabular}{|ll|}\hline
one & two\footnote{A minipage footnote}\\\hline
\end{tabular}
\setcounter{footnote}{\value{mpfootnote}}
\end{minipage}

one

two1

¹ A minipage footnote

You might find this trick useful if you want footnotes in tables. They don't come out otherwise.²

Here's an example of using a package. The multicol file lets one change the number of columns easily. To switch into 3-column text use

\begin{multicols}{3}{
Put the text here. Maths, tables, pictures etc are all ok, but not
figures. But you have to remember to load in the \texttt{multicol}
package at the top of your document.
}
\end{multicols}

Put the text here. Maths, tables, pictures etc are all ok, but not figures. But you have to remember to load in the multicol package at the top of your document. L^ATEX uses the value of the environmental variable TEXINPUTS to decide where to look for sty files. If you create a directory called (say) inputs, copy a system *.sty file into it and do

 
export TEXINPUTS=inputs//:${TEXINPUTS:-:}

then your copy will be read in preference to the system one and you can customise easily.

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© Cambridge University Engineering Dept
Information provided by Tim Love
2006-08-30