How to fix the width of the table?

Question

I want to control the width of my table, but the width is so long. Could I get some ideas to fix this problem?

\begin{table}
\centering
\caption{The examples of DTW distance for the Weizmann datasets.}
\arrayrulecolor{black}
\begin{tabular}{ccccccc} 
\toprule
two sequences & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}boxing\\vs boxing\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}walking\\vs boxing\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}running\\vs boxing\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}jogging\\vs boxing\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}handwaving\\vs boxing\end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}[c]{@{}c@{}}handclapping\\vs boxing\end{tabular}  \\ 
\cmidrule(lr){1-7}
DTW distance  & 0.5796                                                    & 1.7782                                                     & 0.8616                                                     & 1.1747                                                     & 1.3516                                                        & 0.969                                                            \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\arrayrulecolor{black}
\end{table}

Easiest way: Flip the table using two columns and seven rows instead of seven columns and two rows. — Skillmon, Aug 19 '20 at 07:32

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 19 '20 at 07:42

You can save horizontal space by either leaving out redundant information ("vs boxing") which shouldn't be in a table anyways, or by changing the table layout from a 2x7 to a 7x2 grid. The following code shows both solutions.

The first fits in a one column document, but will still be too wide in a two column document.

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
  \centering
  \caption[The examples of DTW distance for the Weizmann datasets.]
    {The examples of DTW distance for the Weizmann datasets. Activities shown vs
    boxing.}
  \begin{tabular}{ccccccc} 
    \toprule
    activity     & boxing & walking & running & jogging & waving & clapping \
    \cmidrule(lr){1-7}
    DTW distance & 0.5796 & 1.7782  & 0.8616  & 1.1747  & 1.3516 & 0.969    \
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}
\begin{table}
  \centering
  \caption{The examples of DTW distance for the Weizmann datasets.}
  \begin{tabular}{l S[table-format=1.4]}
    \toprule
    activity vs boxing & {DTW distance} \
    \midrule
    boxing             & 0.5796 \
    walking            & 1.7782 \
    running            & 0.8616 \
    jogging            & 1.1747 \
    waving             & 1.3516 \
    clapping           & 0.969  \
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}

Results in a one-column document:

Results in a two-column document:

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '20 at 10:38

I totally agree with the answer of Skillmon (+1) but do not answer specifically to "how to fix the width", that is, how to force a table into the text width.

At this respect you have three possible approaches: the tabular* environment or the packages tabularx or tabulary. In the tree cases you must fix the width of the whole table to \linewidth:

\begin{tabular?}{\linewidth}{<type pf columns}}

Where ? is *,x or y and the type of columns depend on type of environment. Since the difference between tabular* and tabularx is covered elsewhere, with tabulary could be:

\begin{tabulary}{\linewidth}{@{}LCCCCCC@{}}
....
\end{tabulary}

Of course, the result will be still horrendous, because you cannot fit well 7 columns in about 8 cm (assuming a standard column) with so much text, so your options are:

Reduce the font. Maybe acceptable in other cases, but in your case will only fit (more or less) with \tiny, and even then the header will need 3 or 4 lines (far from the elegance, imho).
Take the two columns for the table, using table*, or when the behavior of starred floats is a problem, using strip of the midfloat package (see here). Then the result is not too bad:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum,array,xcolor,booktabs,tabulary}
\begin{document}
\begin{table*}
\centering % \tiny for table 
\caption{The examples of DTW distance for the Weizmann datasets.}
\begin{tabulary}{\linewidth}{@{}LCCCCCC@{}} 
\toprule
Two sequences & 
Boxing vs boxing & 
Walking vs boxing &
Running vs boxing & 
Jogging vs boxing & 
Handwaving vs boxing & 
Handclapping vs boxing\\\cmidrule{1-7}
DTW distance & 
0.5796 & 
1.7782 & 
0.8616 & 
1.1747 & 
1.3516 & 
0.969\\\bottomrule
\end{tabulary}
\end{table*}
\lipsum[1-40]
\end{document}

However, be able to fit in some way a table should never avoid ask yourself about the design. For instance, beside the redundant headers, really you need four decimals?

How to fix the width of the table?

2 Answers2