# keep alignment under enumerate

I would like to keep the indentation for my fraction that appears below my first item however i don't know how to align it if itself is not an item. source code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=10pt, paperwidth=992pt, paperheight=558pt]{geometry}
\usepackage[fleqn]{amsmath}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{enumerate}
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{stix}
\begin{document}
\LARGE
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} 1.]
\item Simplify the following:
\begin{multicols}{3}
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} (a)]
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{2}{3} + \frac{4}{3}$ \\
\quad $\displaystyle \frac{6}{3}$
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}$
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{5}$
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{2}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{4}{5} + \frac{3}{2}$
\item \quad $\displaystyle \frac{5}{6} + \frac{2}{3}$
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}


and the displayed output: what i want: I also feel like /quad is a sloppy solution to add spacing after enumerate and also not entirely sure how to add more space after and before the fractions ie:

someone suggested adjsuting the \baselineskip to increase this space, not really sure how to do that though.

thanks

-

I used enumitem package with shortlabels option so as to emulate the behaviour of enumerate package. Now you can adjust the itemsep, left margin etc easily. Further, instead of using \\, use \par followed by some \vspace{<length>}. I used \bigskip. You can also avoid the repetitive use of \quad by using labelsep=<length> as noted by Peter.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=10pt, paperwidth=992pt, paperheight=558pt]{geometry}
\usepackage[fleqn]{amsmath}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage[shortlabels]{enumitem}    %%% << --- emulates enumerate package
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{stix}
\begin{document}
\LARGE
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} 1.]
\item Simplify the following:
\begin{multicols}{3}
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} (a),labelsep=5mm,itemsep=0.5\baselineskip,leftmargin=*]
\item $\displaystyle \frac{2}{3} + \frac{4}{3}$ \par\bigskip
$\displaystyle \frac{6}{3}$
\item  $\displaystyle \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}$
\item $\displaystyle \frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{5}$
\item $\displaystyle \frac{2}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$
\item $\displaystyle \frac{4}{5} + \frac{3}{2}$
\item $\displaystyle \frac{5}{6} + \frac{2}{3}$
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}


-
Since you are loading amsmath, you can simply use \dfrac{}{} instead of \displaystyle \frac{}{}. – Gonzalo Medina May 26 '14 at 2:39

The preceding code can be simplified with \everymath{\displaystyle}, and \par\bigskip $\displaystyle \frac{6}{3}$can be replaced with two \item[], which gives a better vertical spacing.

In addition I give a solution that uses the shortlst package that allows for a horizontal numbering.

Here are the three solutions (2½ I'd rather say) in one file:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[margin=10pt, paperwidth=992pt, paperheight=558pt, showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage[fleqn]{mathtools}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage[shortlabels]{enumitem} %%% << --- emulates enumerate package
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{stix}

\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{shortlst}

\newenvironment{tabenumerate}[1][3]{%
\setlength{\leftmarginii}{\dimexpr\leftmargini + \labelwidth\relax}%
\setlength{\shortitemwidth}{\dimexpr\linewidth/#1-\leftmarginii\relax}%
\renewcommand\labelenumii{\color{MidnightBlue}(\alph{enumii})}
\begin{spacing}{2}
\begin{shortenumerate}}%
{\end{shortenumerate}\end{spacing}}%

\raggedbottom

\begin{document}
\LARGE
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} 1.]
\item Simplify the following:
\begin{multicols}{3}
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} (a),labelsep=5mm,itemsep=0.5\baselineskip,leftmargin=*]
\item $\frac{2}{3} + \frac{4}{3}$%
\item[]$\frac{6}{3}$
\item $\frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}$
\item $\frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{5}$
\item[]
\item $\frac{2}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$
\item $\frac{4}{5} + \frac{3}{2}$
\item $\frac{5}{6} + \frac{2}{3}$
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}

\item Simplify the following:
\begin{multicols}{3}
\everymath{\displaystyle}
\begin{enumerate}[\color{MidnightBlue} (a),labelsep=5mm,itemsep=0.5\baselineskip,leftmargin=*]
\item $\frac{2}{3} + \frac{4}{3}$ \par\bigskip
$\frac{6}{3}$
\item $\frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}$
\item $\frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{5}$
\item $\frac{2}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$
\item $\frac{4}{5} + \frac{3}{2}$
\item $\frac{5}{6} + \frac{2}{3}$
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}

\item Simplify the following:
\begin{tabenumerate}[3]%
\item $\begin{array}[t]{@{}l}\frac{2}{3}+\frac{4}{3}\\ \frac{6}{3}\medskip\end{array}$
\item $\frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{2}$
\item $\frac{4}{3} + \frac{2}{5}$
\item $\frac{2}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$
\item $\frac{4}{5} + \frac{3}{2}$
\item $\frac{5}{6} + \frac{2}{3}$
\end{tabenumerate}

\end{enumerate}
\end{document}
$\displaystyle \frac{6}{3}$


-
thanks for your response i really appreciate it especially the syntax tips – user1448093 May 25 '14 at 14:01