Better margins in tabular's cells containing math-mode

Question

I have this code

% !TeX encoding = UTF-8

\documentclass[utf8]{article}
\usepackage{multirow}

\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[htp]
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{|l|c|c|}
            \hline
            & Weighting & Cost (\$)         \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Material costs}       & 0           & $[10000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[7500,\,10000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[5000,\,7500[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[2500,\,5000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,2500[$ \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Labor costs} & 0           & $[40000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[30000,\,40000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[20000,\,30000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[10000,\,20000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,10000[$ \\
            \hline
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Scale for the cost of the project}
        \label{tab:project_cost}
    \end{table}

\end{document}

It produces this:

As you can see, the margins in the cells are way too small. We can even say it's non existent, so it's really hard to see the brackets ([)

How can I increase the margins?

Have a look at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/159260/156344. — , Mar 15 '19 at 14:26

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 15 '19 at 14:58

In this case a simple \arraystretch redefinition suffices.

% !TeX encoding = UTF-8

\documentclass[utf8]{article}
\usepackage{multirow}
\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[htp]
        \renewcommand\arraystretch{1.3}
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{|l|c|c|}
            \hline
            & Weighting & Cost (\$)         \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Material costs}       & 0           & $[10000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[7500,\,10000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[5000,\,7500[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[2500,\,5000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,2500[$ \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Labor costs} & 0           & $[40000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[30000,\,40000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[20000,\,30000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[10000,\,20000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,10000[$ \\
            \hline
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Scale for the cost of the project}
        \label{tab:project_cost}
    \end{table}

\end{document}

ORIGINAL APPROACH

I just added a >{} directive to a column that adds a \strut that has been padded by 2pt above and below. Requires array package for the >-directive functionality, and stackengine to pad the \strut by 2pt.

However, the OP noted that this approach combined with the \multirow causes the first column to not be vertically centered.

% !TeX encoding = UTF-8

\documentclass[utf8]{article}
\usepackage{array,multirow,stackengine}

\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[htp]
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{|>{\addstackgap[2pt]{\strut}}l|c|c|}
            \hline
            & Weighting & Cost (\$)         \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Material costs}       & 0           & $[10000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[7500,\,10000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[5000,\,7500[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[2500,\,5000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,2500[$ \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}{Labor costs} & 0           & $[40000,\,\infty[$  \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & $[30000,\,40000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & $[20000,\,30000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & $[10000,\,20000[$ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & $[0,10000[$ \\
            \hline
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Scale for the cost of the project}
        \label{tab:project_cost}
    \end{table}

\end{document}

The "Material costs" and "Labor costs" aren't centered anymore. — Vinccool96, Mar 15 '19 at 14:38
@Vinccool96 You are right. Let me think on this one (I don't use a lot of multirow) — Steven B. Segletes, Mar 15 '19 at 14:41

Bernard · Answer 2 · 2019-03-15T18:00:19.833

Another possibility with cellspace, which defines a minimal vertical padding for cells in columns with specifier prefixed with the letter S (or C if you load siunitx):

\documentclass[utf8]{article}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{amsmath} 
\usepackage{cellspace}
\setlength{\cellspacetoplimit}{4pt}
\setlength{\cellspacebottomlimit}{3pt}

\begin{document}
    \begin{table}[htp]
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{|l|>{$}Sc<{$}|>{$}Sc<{$}|}
            \hline
            & \text{Weighting} & \text{Cost (\$)} \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}[-12pt]{Material costs} & 0 & [10000, \infty[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & [7500, 10000[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & [5000, 7500[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & [2500, 5000[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & [0,2500[ \\ \hline
            \multirow{5}{*}[-12pt]{Labor costs} & 0 & [40000, \infty[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 1.25 & [30000, 40000[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 2.5 & [20000, 30000[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 3.75 & [10000, 20000[ \\ \cline{2-3}
            & 5 & [0,10000[ \\
            \hline
        \end{tabular}
        \caption{Scale for the cost of the project}
        \label{tab:project_cost}
    \end{table}

\end{document}

Another clipboard manager accident… Fixed. Thank you so much! — Bernard, Mar 15 '19 at 18:01

Better margins in tabular's cells containing math-mode

2 Answers2