# resizebox doesn't resize a tabular vertically

Why is that? Shouldn't they both be 2cmx2cm in size?!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}

\resizebox{2cm}{2cm}{\rule{6cm}{7cm}}
\resizebox{2cm}{2cm}{\begin{tabular}{l l}A&B\\C&D\end{tabular}}

\end{document}

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You want \resizebox* not \resizebox the latter scales the height whereas the former scales height + depth. A tabular is vertically centred so the height is half its vertical extent.

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I do not know why, but:

1) If you want have proper dimensions, use:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}

\resizebox{2cm}{2cm}{\rule{6cm}{7cm}}
%\resizebox{2cm}{2cm}{\begin{tabular}{l l}A&B\\C&D\end{tabular}}
\resizebox{2cm}{2cm}{\begin{tabular}[b]{|l l|}\hline A&B\\C&D\\  \hline\end{tabular}}

\end{document}


2) If you want to see a horror, please change [b] onto [t]. I know that it is not a proper answer, but one should to see THAT! :-)

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[b] is closer but not what is wanted, as with b more of the total vertical extent is in the height, but the depth of the bottom row is not taken into account. with [t] you are scaling by 2cm/\ht\strutbox which is rather a bigger scale than intended, probably. (actually with an \hline at the bottom, the reference point is at the bottom so you get lucky:-) –  David Carlisle Dec 11 '13 at 22:27
It have useful info (+1) (but I'm going to accept David's answer). I've seen weirder stuff than the one you mentioned in 2) when I used parbox and minipage in resizebox while I was trying to construct an answer for this question. –  masu Dec 11 '13 at 22:30
@masu the situation with parbox is identical to that with tabular, normally it has height and depth and resizebox scales the height. –  David Carlisle Dec 11 '13 at 22:31
Thanks, David, I've inferred that. :) –  masu Dec 11 '13 at 22:43