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Fine tuning

It's generally a good idea to keep punctuation outside math mode; L^ATEX's normal handling of spacing around punctuation is suspended during maths. Sometimes you might want to adjust the spacing in a formula (e.g., you might want to add space before dx). Use these symbols :-

a\, b	($a\, b$) thin space
a\> b	($a\> b$) medium space
a\; b	($a\; b$) thick space
a\! b	($a\! b$) negative thin space

Long math expressions aren't broken automatically unless you use the breqn package, which is still a little experimental. In an eqnarray environment you may want to break a long line manually. You can do this by putting

y & = & a + b \nonumber \\
  &   & + k

to give

y = a + b

+ k (4)

but the spacing around the `+' on the 2nd line is wrong because L^ATEX thinks it's a unary operator. You can fool L^ATEX into treating it as a binary operator by inserting a hidden character.

y & = & a + b \nonumber \\
  &   & \mbox{} + k

gives

y = a + b

$$\mbox{} + k$$ (5)

You can use the \lefteqn construction to format long expressions so that continuation lines are differently indented.

\begin{eqnarray}
\lefteqn{x+ iy=}\\
 & & a + b + c + d + e + f + g + h + i + j + k +\nonumber\\
 & & l + m \nonumber
\end{eqnarray}

If you want more vertical spacing around a line you can create an invisible vertical "struct" in LaTeX. To create a box of width 0, height 1cm which starts .3cm below the usual line base, use \rule[-.3cm]{0cm}{1cm}. By adjusting these values you should be able to create as much extra space below/above the maths as you like. ``$A \over B$ and'' is created by

$A \over B$  \rule[-.3cm]{0cm}{1cm}{and}

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© Cambridge University Engineering Dept
Information provided by Tim Love
2006-07-27