6

How do I

  1. remove the additional space around \underbrace
  2. justify the text under it, if the latter is longer than the text above it?

To illustrate the issue: 

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{mathtools}

\newcommand{\underbracewithoutspace}[2]{\mathrlap{\underbrace{\phantom{#1\strut}}_{#2}}#1}

\begin{document}

\begin{equation}
\underbrace{a+b}_{\text{a long blah blah blah}}+c
\end{equation}

% using the technique of 
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/24912/remove-additional-space-around-underbrace  
\begin{equation}
\underbracewithoutspace{a+b}{\text{a long blah blah blah}}+c
\end{equation}

\end{document}

The first line (plain \underbrace) tries to center the text under the brace, while the second version (taken from this question: Remove additional space around \underbrace{…}) puts the brace under the wrong symbol.

Community
  • 1
Zhenya
  • 63

1 Answers1

5
\newcommand{\undertab}[1]{\clap{%
  \scriptsize\begin{tabular}{@{}c@{}}#1\end{tabular}}}

\underbracewithoutspace{a+b}{\undertab{a long\\ blah\\ blah}}+c

I wouldn't look for justification in such narrow columns.

egreg
  • 1,121,712
  • Thanks! What I'm after is not justification per se, it's correct positioning of the text/formula under the brace if it's longer than what's above it.

    As a more minor issue: is there a way of aligning what's above the brace with what's below it? In this example, I'm after aligning the a in the 'a long ' with the a in the formula.

     – Zhenya Sep 22 '11 at 19:26