Aligned \description

Question

Code

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,12pt]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\begin{document}
\noindent Let us define:
\begin{description}
  \item[$C_{DEP}$] (\euro) depreciation of the machine.
  \item[$C_{EN}$] (\euro) energy cost.
  \item[$CE$] (\euro /year) energy cost per year.
  \item[$CMAT_{(W \geq W_L)}$] (\euro\textcentoldstyle) cost of raw material regarding the ``conforming'' packages.
  \item[$CMAT_{(W < W_L)}$] (\euro\textcentoldstyle) cost of raw material regarding the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \item[$CS$] (\euro\textcentoldstyle) cost of sorting.
  \item[$CP$] (\euro\textcentoldstyle) cost of the packaging material.
  \item[$c_{pack}$] (\euro /kg) cost of the packaging material per kilogram.
  \item[$c_u$] (\euro\textcentoldstyle/g) cost of the raw material per gram.
  \item[$\delta$] dummy variable to consider both rework and scrap packages.
  \item[$DEP$] (\euro /year) depreciation of the machine per year.
  \item[$E(W|W \geq W_L)$] (g/package) expected weight value of the ``conforming'' packages.
  \item[$E(W|W < W_L)$] (g/package) expected weight value of the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \item[$LAB$] (\euro /h) labor cost per hour.
  \item[$n_B$] number of ``conforming'' packages.
  \item[$P$] number of packages produced in a specific time interval.
  \item[$Q_{pack}$] (kg/package) quantity of the packaging material per package.
  \item[$t$] (hours/package) production time.
  \item[$W$] (g/package) quantity of product delivered in each package, it can be modeled as a random variable with an unknown distribution.
  \item[$W_L$]              (g/package) legal weight of the package. The tolerable negative error in the contents of a prepackage is fixed in accordance with the table below:

\begin{table}[htbp]
    \captionsetup{font=small} % Set the caption font size
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc | cc}

\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{$W_T$ in \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}} & \multicolumn{2}{|c}{Tolerable negative error}\\
\midrule
from    &   to              &   as \% of $W_T$  &     \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}\\
\midrule
5       &   50              &   9               &   -       \\
50      &   100             &   -               &   4.5     \\
100     &   200             &   4.5             &   -       \\
200     &   300             &   -               &   9       \\
300     &   500             &   3               &   -       \\
500     &   1000            &   -               &   15      \\
1000    &   \num{10000}     &   1.5             &   -       \\
\bottomrule

\end{tabular}
\vspace{5pt} % a little space to shift the caption down
\caption{tolerable negative error}
\label{tab:legislation}
\end{center}
\end{table}
  \item[$W_T$] (g) Target weight value of a package.
  \item[$TI$] (s) time used to take care of the ``non conforming'' packages.
\item[$WH$] (hours/year) working hours of the machine per year.

\end{description}
\end{document}

Output

Question

Is there any easy way to align symbols, Units of measurement and descriptions? I'd like to avoid using tables to align. I'd like something like:

SYMBOL    (Units)    Long long long long long long long long long long long long long
SYMBOL_2  (Units)    Long long long long long long long long long long long long long
                     Long long long long long long long long long long long long long

take a look at this question: Description list with aligned descriptions. — barbara beeton, Mar 20 '14 at 14:59
@barbarabeeton That answer works only for 2 elements. I need to align 3 elements: Symbol, Units and description — gmeroni, Mar 20 '14 at 15:02
Why would you like to avoid using tables? The type of presentation you want is basically a table, no? — Willie Wong, Mar 20 '14 at 15:08
@WillieWong Yup, but using table is an overkill since many descriptions need to be on 2 or more lines...causing me to use many \multirow — gmeroni, Mar 20 '14 at 15:10
Instead of \multirow, maybe you should use p? http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Tables#Text_wrapping_in_tables (or perhaps tabularx: http://stackoverflow.com/a/790955 ) — Willie Wong, Mar 20 '14 at 15:14
You would not need any multirow to set that as a table, but logically it is a list it's set it similar;y to this answer, putting both symbol and units into the item label http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/166282/long-text-in-math-equation-in-latex/166297#166297 — David Carlisle, Mar 20 '14 at 15:19
@WillieWong In that case it is possibile to include a table as a description? A table in a table? — gmeroni, Mar 20 '14 at 15:30

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

This possible solution utilizes the technique introduced in Description list with aligned descriptions and define a macro called abox box of 3cm length, with left alignment, for the symbols, so that a second column alignment is established.

enter image description here

Code

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,12pt]{book}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{eurosym,booktabs}
%\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,latexsym}
\usepackage{textcomp,siunitx,caption}
\usepackage{calc} 
\usepackage{enumitem}

\def\abox#1{\leavevmode\hbox to 3cm{#1\ \hfill}}

\begin{document}

\noindent Let us define:
\begin{description}[leftmargin=6.2cm,labelwidth=\widthof{$E(W|W < W_L)$}]
\item[$C_{DEP}$]  \abox{(\euro)} depreciation of the machine.
\item[$C_{EN}$]   \abox{(\euro)}  energy cost.
\item[$CE$]       \abox{(\euro/year)} energy cost per year.
\item[$CMAT_{(W \geq W_L)}$] \abox{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of raw material regarding the ``conforming'' packages.
\item[$CMAT_{(W < W_L)}$]    \abox{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of raw material regarding the ``non conforming'' packages.
\item[$CS$]       \abox{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of sorting.
\item[$CP$]       \abox{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of the packaging material.
\item[$c_{pack}$] \abox{(\euro /kg)} cost of the packaging material per kilogram.
\item[$c_u$]      \abox{(\euro\textcentoldstyle/g)} cost of the raw material per gram.
\item[$\delta$]   \abox{} dummy variable to consider both rework and scrap packages.
\item[$DEP$]      \abox{(\euro /year)} depreciation of the machine per year.
\item[$E(W|W \geq W_L)$]\abox{(g/package)} expected weight value of the ``conforming'' packages.
\item[$E(W|W < W_L)$]   \abox{(g/package)} expected weight value of the ``non conforming'' packages.
\item[$LAB$]      \abox{(\euro /h)} labor cost per hour.
\item[$n_B$]      \abox{} number of ``conforming'' packages.
\item[$P$]        \abox{} number of packages produced in a specific time interval.
\item[$Q_{pack}$] \abox{(kg/package)} quantity of the packaging material per package.
\item[$t$]        \abox{(hours/package)} production time.
\item[$W$]        \abox{(g/package)} quantity of product delivered in each package, it can be modeled as a random variable with an unknown distribution.
\item[$W_L$]      \abox{(g/package)} legal weight of the package. The tolerable negative error in the contents of a prepackage is fixed in accordance with the table below:

\begin{table}[htbp]
\captionsetup{font=small} % Set the caption font size
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc | cc}

\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{$W_T$ in \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}} & \multicolumn{2}{|c}{Tolerable negative error}\\
\midrule
from    &   to              &   as \% of $W_T$  &     \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}\\
\midrule
5       &   50              &   9               &   -       \\
50      &   100             &   -               &   4.5     \\
100     &   200             &   4.5             &   -       \\
200     &   300             &   -               &   9       \\
300     &   500             &   3               &   -       \\
500     &   1000            &   -               &   15      \\
1000    &   \num{10000}     &   1.5             &   -       \\
\bottomrule

\end{tabular}
\vspace{5pt} % a little space to shift the caption down
\caption{tolerable negative error}
\label{tab:legislation}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\item[$W_T$] \abox{(g)} Target weight value of a package.
\item[$TI$]  \abox{(s)} time used to take care of the ``non conforming'' packages.
\item[$WH$]  \abox{(hours/year)} working hours of the machine per year.
\end{description}
\end{document}

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '14 at 17:55

Modify the values of \onelen and \twolen to your needs and use \myitem instead of \item as in the following example:

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside,12pt]{book}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{eurosym}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{caption,booktabs}
\usepackage{enumitem} 

\newlength\onelen
\newlength\twolen

\setlength\onelen{6.35cm}
\setlength\twolen{3cm}

\newcommand{\myitem}[2]{%
  \item[#1] \makebox[\twolen][l]{#2}%
  }

\begin{document}
\noindent Let us define:
\begin{description}[leftmargin=\onelen,labelwidth=3cm]
  \myitem{$C_{DEP}$}{(\euro)} depreciation of the machine.
  \myitem{$C_{EN}$}{(\euro)} energy cost.
  \myitem{$CE$}{(\euro /year)} energy cost per year.
  \myitem{$CMAT_{(W \geq W_L)}$}{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of raw material regarding the ``conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$CMAT_{(W < W_L)}$}{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of raw material regarding the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$CS$}{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of sorting.
  \myitem{$CP$}{(\euro\textcentoldstyle)} cost of the packaging material.
  \myitem{$c_{pack}$}{(\euro /kg)} cost of the packaging material per kilogram.
  \myitem{$c_u$}{(\euro\textcentoldstyle/g)} cost of the raw material per gram.
  \myitem{$\delta$}{} dummy variable to consider both rework and scrap packages.
  \myitem{$DEP$}{(\euro /year)} depreciation of the machine per year.
  \myitem{$E{(W|W \geq W_L)}$}{(g/package)} expected weight value of the ``conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$E(W|W < W_L)$}{{(g/package)}} expected weight value of the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$LAB$}{(\euro /h)} labor cost per hour.
  \myitem{$n_B$}{} number of ``conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$P$}{} number of packages produced in a specific time interval.
  \myitem{$Q_{pack}$}{(kg/package)} quantity of the packaging material per package.
  \myitem{$t$}{(hours/package)} production time.
  \myitem{$W$}{(g/package)} quantity of product delivered in each package, it can be modeled as a random variable with an unknown distribution.
  \myitem{$W_L$}{(g/package)} legal weight of the package. The tolerable negative error in the contents of a prepackage is fixed in accordance with the table below:

\begin{table}[htbp]
    \captionsetup{font=small} % Set the caption font size
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc | cc}

\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{$W_T$ in \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}} & \multicolumn{2}{|c}{Tolerable negative error}\\
\midrule
from    &   to              &   as \% of $W_T$  &     \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}\\
\midrule
5       &   50              &   9               &   -       \\
50      &   100             &   -               &   4.5     \\
100     &   200             &   4.5             &   -       \\
200     &   300             &   -               &   9       \\
300     &   500             &   3               &   -       \\
500     &   1000            &   -               &   15      \\
1000    &   \num{10000}     &   1.5             &   -       \\
\bottomrule

\end{tabular}
\vspace{5pt} % a little space to shift the caption down
\caption{tolerable negative error}
\label{tab:legislation}
\end{center}
\end{table}
  \myitem{$W_T$}{(g)} Target weight value of a package.
  \myitem{$TI$}{(s)} time used to take care of the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \myitem{$WH$}{(hours/year)} working hours of the machine per year.

\end{description}
\end{document}

enter image description here

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

If you just want to use a description list and do as David suggested, stuffing everything into the item description, you can get a cheap alignment using \rlap and \phantom. (Note, the arguments to the two \phantom commands should be the longest entries in the "symbol" and "unit" field respectively.)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[official]{eurosym}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}


\newcommand\itemd[2]{\item[\rlap{#1}\phantom{$CMAT_{(W<W_L)}$} \rlap{(#2)}\phantom{\euro{}
/ package}]}

\begin{document}
\noindent Let us define:
\begin{description}
  \itemd{$C_{DEP}$}{\euro{}} depreciation of the machine.
  \itemd{$C_{EN}$}{\euro{}} energy cost.
  \itemd{$CE$}{\euro{} /year} energy cost per year.
  \itemd{$CMAT_{(W \geq W_L)}$}{\euro{}} cost of raw
material regarding the ``conforming'' packages.
  \itemd{$CMAT_{(W < W_L)}$}{\euro{}} cost of raw
material regarding the ``non conforming'' packages.
  \itemd{$CS$}{\euro{}} cost of sorting.
  \itemd{$c_{pack}$}{\euro{} /kg} cost of the packaging material per
kilogram.
  \itemd{$c_u$}{\euro{}/g} cost of the raw material per
gram.
  \itemd{$\delta$}{none} dummy variable to consider both rework and scrap
packages.
  \itemd{$DEP$}{\euro{} /year} depreciation of the machine per year.
  \itemd{$E(W|W \geq W_L)$}{g/package} expected weight value of the
``conforming'' packages.
\end{description}
\end{document}

(Posting CW as I don't like this output that much: with many symbols and units of disparate lengths, any aligned output would look awkward.)

enter image description here

Incidentally, I couldn't get your MWE to build as it was missing (for me) the \euro and \textcentoldstyle commands. — Willie Wong, Mar 20 '14 at 16:01

score 0 · Answer 4 · 2014-03-20T17:10:30.080

use a tablex it supports longtable as werl as a tabularx with a possible pagebreak:

\documentclass[a4paper,twoside]{book}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{textcomp,eurosym}
\usepackage{ltablex}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{caption}
\captionsetup{font=small} % Set the caption font size

\begin{document}
\noindent Let us define:

\noindent
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}r X@{}}
$C_{DEP}$ (\euro) & depreciation of the machine.\\
$C_{EN}$  (\euro) & energy cost.\\
$CE$      (\euro /year) & energy cost per year.\\
$CMAT_{(W \geq W_L)}$ (\euro\textcentoldstyle) & cost of raw material regarding the ``conforming'' packages.\\
$CMAT_{(W < W_L)}$ (\euro\textcentoldstyle) & cost of raw material regarding the ``non conforming'' packages.\\
$CS$ (\euro\textcentoldstyle) & cost of sorting.\\
$CP$ (\euro\textcentoldstyle) & cost of the packaging material.\\
$c_{pack}$ (\euro /kg) & cost of the packaging material per kilogram.\\
$c_u$ (\euro\textcentoldstyle/g) & cost of the raw material per gram.\\
$\delta$ & dummy variable to consider both rework and scrap packages.\\
$DEP$ (\euro /year) & depreciation of the machine per year.\\
$E(W|W \geq W_L)$ (g/package) & expected weight value of the ``conforming'' packages.\\
$E(W|W < W_L)$ (g/package) & expected weight value of the ``non conforming'' packages.\\
$LAB$ (\euro /h) & labor cost per hour.\\
$n_B$ & number of ``conforming'' packages.\\
$P$ & number of packages produced in a specific time interval.\\
$Q_{pack}$ (kg/package) & quantity of the packaging material per package.\\
$t$ (hours/package) & production time.\\
$W$ (g/package) & quantity of product delivered in each package, it can be modeled as a random variable with an unknown distribution.\\
$W_L$ (g/package) & legal weight of the package. The tolerable negative error in the contents of a prepackage is fixed in accordance with the table below: 
\end{tabularx}

\addtocounter{table}{-1}
\begin{longtable}{cc | cc}\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{$W_T$ in \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}} & \multicolumn{2}{|c}{Tolerable negative error}\\
\midrule
from    &   to              &   as \% of $W_T$  &     \si{\gram} or \si{\ml}\\
\midrule
5       &   50              &   9               &   -       \\
50      &   100             &   -               &   4.5     \\
100     &   200             &   4.5             &   -       \\
200     &   300             &   -               &   9       \\
300     &   500             &   3               &   -       \\
500     &   1000            &   -               &   15      \\
1000    &   \num{10000}     &   1.5             &   -       \\\bottomrule
\caption{tolerable negative error}\label{tab:legislation} \\
\end{longtable}

\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{}r l X@{}}
$W_T$ (g) & Target weight value of a package.\\
$TI$ (s) & time used to take care of the ``non conforming'' packages.\\
$WH$ (hours/year) & working hours of the machine per year.\\
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Aligned \description

Code

Output

Question

4 Answers4