How to format equation description?

Question

A small piece of code after equation

  \begin{tabbing}    
    where \= $fTTsc$:~  traveling time (office to site and back to office).\\
           \>$fTIsc$:~time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in \\
          \>\; industrial environment)\\
           \>$fSNETtsc$:~setting up survey network.\\                   
    \end{tabbing}

about code

How can I use tab or something else so that (line 1 traveling,line 2 time,line 3 setting)comes in one vertical line.

where   
     fTTsc:     traveling time (office to site and back to office).

     fTIsc:     time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in 
                industrial environment)

     fSNETtsc:  setting up survey network.

I 'm breaking manually (which took a lot of time for 15 sentences) but how to do it automatically so that it looks perfect and nice.

time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in \\
          \>\; industrial environment)\\

http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/53470 – kiss my armpit Jul 19 '14 at 14:55 — kiss my armpit, Jul 19 '14 at 14:55
http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/95838 – kiss my armpit Jul 19 '14 at 14:56 — kiss my armpit, Jul 19 '14 at 14:56

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:36

Silently stolen from this answer (click).

\documentclass[preview,border=12pt,12pt]{standalone} % change it back to your own document class
%\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{array,tabularx}

\newenvironment{conditions*}
  {\par\vspace{\abovedisplayskip}\noindent
   \tabularx{\columnwidth}{>{$}l<{$} @{${}={}$} >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}X}}
  {\endtabularx\par\vspace{\belowdisplayskip}}

\begin{document}

An equation just to start
\begin{equation}
        fTTsc+ fTIsc + fSNEtsc = 0
\end{equation}
where:
\begin{conditions*}
        fTTsc       &   traveling time (office to site and back to office)\\
        fTIsc       &   time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in industrial environment) \\
        fSNETtsc    &   setting up survey network
\end{conditions*}

\end{document}

enter image description here

By the way, I think you need to selectively choose the correct font for the variables, which one should be regarded as text subscript with normal text font, etc, etc. — kiss my armpit, Jul 19 '14 at 15:32

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 19 '14 at 15:24

Here are two ways to do — to be adjusted according to the real data, equations, &c.

        \documentclass[ a4paper]{article}

        \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
        \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
        \usepackage{lmodern}
        \usepackage[showframe, nomarginpar]{geometry} 
        \usepackage{array, mathtools}

        \begin{document}
        \[ \text{Some more or less complex equation, } \]%
        where:  \begin{tabular}[t]{!{\vrule width0.8pt}>{$ }l<{$}@{\ }l@{}}
        fTTsc:  & traveling time (office to site and back to office).\\
         fTIsc:   &    \parbox[t]{0.5\textwidth}{time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in
                    industrial environment)}\\
         fSNETtsc: &   setting up survey network.
         \end{tabular}
         \vskip 2ex

         \begin{align*}
         \text{Some}  & \enspace \text{more or less complex equation} \\
           \text{where: } &\mathrlap{ \begin{alignedat}[t]{2}
         fTTsc: & \   & &  \text{traveling time (office to site and back to office) }\\
         fTIsc:   & &    &     \parbox[t]{0.42\textwidth}{time to get safety instructions (this is specially true in industrial environment)} \\
          fSNETtsc: & &    &   \text{setting up survey network.}
         \end{alignedat}}\\
         \text{Another} &\quad\text{somewhat more complex equation}
         \end{align*}

        \end{document}

enter image description here

Konstantin Morenko · Answer 3 · 2018-11-16T18:05:33.803

When I've faced this problem, I wrote a package eqexpl (since 14 Nov 2018 it is available on CTAN). With it you could add in preamble

\usepackage{eqexpl}
\eqexplSetIntro{where} % set parenthesis in the left of the first item
\eqexplSetDelim{:} % set delimiter to ":"

and then in document

\begin{eqexpl}
  \item{fTTsc}traveling time (office to site and back to office).
  \item{fTIsc}time to get safety instructions
    (this is specially true in industrial environment)
  \item{fSNETtsc}setting up survey network. 
\end{eqexpl}

The parenthesis could be set only in the left of the item, not above, in this case you could leave it default (none) and add the "where" before environment manually.

How to format equation description?

3 Answers3