Remove vertical space around align

Question

I need to display math in my report, but is it possible to remove the vertical space around align*?

A little example is the following (where I just want the align* to have the same vertical space as a \\

\documentclass[10pt,danish,a4paper,oneside,fleqn]{report}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
\begin{align*}
  A{\cap}B\ & =\ {\left\{{b,d,e}\right\}}{\;}{\cap}{\;}{\left\{{a,b,f,g}\right\}}   \\
  \nonumber\ & =\ {\left\{{b}\right\}}
\end{align*}
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss \\
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

\end{document}

The math is taking to much space in my report as I have a page limit — The87Boy, Mar 09 '12 at 13:56
To remove the space you may use the minipage environment. Use \begin{minipage}[t][height of text][t]{yourtextsize} and you will contain the height of the align environment. — Vag, Apr 24 '18 at 14:42

score 50 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 19 '17 at 19:55

\documentclass[10pt,danish,a4paper,oneside,fleqn]{report}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath,lipsum}

\begin{document}
\setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\abovedisplayshortskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\belowdisplayshortskip}{0pt}

\lipsum*[2]  
\begin{align*}
  A\cap B & = \{b,d,e\} \cap \{a,b,f,g\} \\
          & = \{b\}
\end{align*}
\lipsum[3]

\end{document}

Note, however, that this is very poor typography. (lipsum is just to generate dummy text.)

The four parameters state how much vertical space is inserted between text and a math display. The "short" version is used for equation, when the last line of text is short.

You should also check the way you're inputting math. You're using too much redundant braces (that in some cases give very bad results). It's quite rare to use explicit spacing commands in math.

Here's the result of typesetting the test file

enter image description here

This is the principle. In case you use font size changing commands, you have to tell LaTeX that you want this zero spacing in all sizes by putting this in the preamble

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand{\zerodisplayskips}{%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayshortskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayshortskip}{0pt}}
\appto{\normalsize}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\small}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\footnotesize}{\zerodisplayskips}

so that the example becomes

\documentclass[10pt,danish,a4paper,oneside,fleqn]{report}

\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath,lipsum}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand{\zerodisplayskips}{%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayshortskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayshortskip}{0pt}}
\appto{\normalsize}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\small}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\footnotesize}{\zerodisplayskips}

\begin{document}

\lipsum*[2]  
\begin{align*}
  A\cap B & = \{b,d,e\} \cap \{a,b,f,g\} \\
          & = \{b\}
\end{align*}
\lipsum[3]

\end{document}

Thanks for the comments, but the setlength's did not do it :( — The87Boy, Mar 09 '12 at 14:04
It does. You probably have other display environments, I'll update my answer — egreg, Mar 09 '12 at 14:06
Works for me as well, but makes me wondering why it doesn't work when the \setlength commands are set in the preamble. — Philipp, Mar 09 '12 at 15:04
@Philipp The parameters' values are set by \normalsize and other size changing commands, which might account for the OP's problem. — egreg, Mar 09 '12 at 15:17
@The87Boy Are you using some font changing command such as \small? — egreg, Mar 09 '12 at 15:18
Oh, now I figured out, why it did not work thanks to Philipp. I put it in the preample-file ;) — The87Boy, Mar 09 '12 at 17:12
Egreg's solution has unwanted spaces at the end of the lines. They have to be suppressed by putting % at the end. See my answer for details. — Pieter van Oostrum, Dec 31 '16 at 08:49

score 24 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 02 '16 at 05:39

24

Use an inline equation (which adds no vertical space), place the macro \displaystyle within it (so it looks like a normal equation), place aligned within it (for alignment), and enclose it within {\centering ... \par} (to center without adding unnecessary vertical space).

{\centering
  $ \displaystyle
    \begin{aligned} 
       A{\cap}B\ & =\ {\left\{{b,d,e}\right\}}{\;}{\cap}{\;}{\left\{{a,b,f,g}\right\}}   \\
       \nonumber\ & =\ {\left\{{b}\right\}} 
    \end{aligned}
  $ 
\par}%Necessary for centering to work

It's a bit ugly if you're doing it a lot, but in my case it was handy because I wanted to remove vertical space from one or two equations (so they'd fit within a table) but not affect any others.

edited Jan 02 '16 at 05:39

dhg

103
3

answered Jun 04 '14 at 05:48

user1476176

1,225

There is a little typo in your code - \displaysyle instead of \displaystyle. – Eenoku Nov 21 '15 at 22:29
1

Thanks, this is great! It also allows using \raggedright and \raggedleft for respectively left- and right- alignment. I'm making it into a macro for reuse :-) – Blaisorblade Sep 10 '17 at 19:44
Based on this, you could make your own environment: \newenvironment{closealign}{\par\centering$\displaystyle\begin{aligned}}{\end{aligned}$\par} – Rasmus Gross Søgaard Aug 08 '23 at 07:23

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 31 '16 at 08:48

Egreg's solution has unwanted spaces at the end of the lines. They have to be suppressed by putting % at the end.

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand{\zerodisplayskips}{%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\abovedisplayshortskip}{0pt}%
  \setlength{\belowdisplayshortskip}{0pt}}
\appto{\normalsize}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\small}{\zerodisplayskips}
\appto{\footnotesize}{\zerodisplayskips}

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Apr 04 '22 at 07:59

8

You can use \vspace{-0.5cm} locally above each \begin{align*}

edited Apr 04 '22 at 07:59

Claudio Fiandrino

63,575

answered Apr 04 '22 at 06:00

user267692

81

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Apr 04 '22 at 06:12

Remove vertical space around align

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