Math mode in tabular without having to use $…$ everywhere

\begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|}
\hline
Column A & Column B \\

\begin{math}
x & y \\
\end{math}

\end{tabular}


This won't let me compile and gives a lot of errors, how do I enable math mode in a table without using $on everything? - If most terms in the table are going to be in math-mode, you could use an array environment (while in math-mode, obviously) instead of the tabular environment. If it's just the occasional column that's supposed to be in math mode, you could change its column type specifier from, say, c to >{$}c<{$}. – Mico May 5 '13 at 12:11 To add to Mico's comment: ... and use \text{Column A} to switch to text mode in the column headings. – Jubobs May 5 '13 at 12:12 @longtom $ ... $ is a short form for \begin{math} ... \end{math}, so using the latter is unnecessary verbose. – Torbjørn T. May 5 '13 at 12:18 Related question: tex.stackexchange.com/questions/106692/… – Torbjørn T. May 5 '13 at 12:19 You must load the array package to be able to use the advanced column specification thingy (e.g. >{$}c<{$}). – Jubobs May 5 '13 at 12:59 3 Answers \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amstext} % for \text macro \usepackage{array} % for \newcolumntype macro \newcolumntype{L}{>{$}l<{$}} % math-mode version of "l" column type \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{| L | L |} \hline \text{Column A} & \text{Column B} \ x & y \ \end{tabular} \end{document}  - (\text is defined in amstext.sty which is loaded by amsmath.sty.) – Qrrbrbirlbel May 5 '13 at 13:07 @Qrrbrbirlbel Ok. I didn't know that, but I guess the OP will need amsmath anyway :) – Jubobs May 5 '13 at 13:08 Thanks, what do the less than and greater than symbols actually do? – STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON May 5 '13 at 13:08 They simply act as some kind of escape character there. They tell tabular that a special column specification follows. – Jubobs May 5 '13 at 13:10 @STRAIGHTOUTTACOMPTON The Wikibooks page is basically indispensible for keeping track of how to use tables, at least for me. – Ryan Reich May 5 '13 at 14:37 If you use tabu, it automatically detects whether the table is in math mode, thus imitating this feature of array. \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath,tabu} \begin{document}$\begin{tabu}{|l|l|}\hline
\text{Column A} & \text{Column B} \\
x & y
\end{tabu}$\end{document}  - One really nice feature of this approach (beyond not having to type the complicated array syntax above) is that it preserves syntax highlighting in my editor. – Reid Jan 23 '14 at 0:08 This approach was very helpful to me, thanks. – Erel Segal-Halevi Dec 12 '15 at 19:07 If most of the table consists of math-mode material, it's preferable to use an array environment instead of a tabular environment. Any text-mode material in the table can be handled by encasing it in \text directives (requires the amsmath or the amstext package): \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath} % for "\text" macro \begin{document}$\begin{array}{|c|c|}
\hline
\text{Column A} & \text{Column B} \\
x+y & x-y \\
\hline
\end{array}\$
\end{document}

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