# Problem with align*, having & inside \dfrac arguments

To center align two equations, I need to place the & inside a \dfrac argument (I am using AMS LaTeX) but if do that, I get an error message and the code does not compile. The only alternative way I could get the result I want is using the following ugly hack below. Is there a clean way to use align in my case?

\begin{align*}
\hat W_i =\sum_{j\neq i} \hat G_j\tag{lsys}\end{align*}
\vspace{-.8cm}
\begin{align*}
\hat G_i =\dfrac{\sum_{j\neq i} \hat W_j -(N-1)\hat W_i}{N}\tag{sol}
\end{align*}
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If you just want centering with no particular alignment, use the gather* environment instead of align*. –  Paul Gessler Jul 14 at 1:09
Thanks: first time I heard about gather* –  Sergio Parreiras Jul 14 at 1:10

Converting my comment into an answer:

If centering of a group of equations is required, with no particular alignment, the gather environment (or its starred, unnumbered variant, gather*) should be used:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\begin{gather*}
\hat{W}_i =\sum_{j\neq i} \hat{G}_j \tag{lsys} \\
\hat{G}_i =\frac{\sum_{j\neq i} \hat{W}_j -(N-1) \hat{W}_i}{N} \tag{sol}
\end{gather*}
\end{document}

Other notes: I've added a few explicit braces, and \dfrac is not required since we already have a display environment.

EDIT: As suggested in the comments, you could use \widehat for the "hats" on uppercase letters. I've also brought the denominator out front to give a consistent look to the summations.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\begin{gather*}
\widehat{W}_i = \sum_{j\neq i} \widehat{G}_j \tag{lsys} \\
\widehat{G}_i = \frac{1}{N} \sum_{j\neq i} \widehat{W}_j - \frac{N-1}{N} \widehat{W}_i \tag{sol}
\end{gather*}
\end{document}

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You might also want to suggest the use of \widehat instead of \hat for the sake of creating "hat" symbols above uppercase letters. Ideally, the OP would implement such a change on a document-wide basis, i.e, for all uppercase letters that are to be given "hats". –  Mico Jul 14 at 4:50