Narrower columns in align environment

Question

How to set the column width in the align environment. I've got a align environment to demonstrate how to do division by hand so the columns always contain only one number, but the columns are much wider than this.

Following an example only showing the ugly result because of to wide columns:

\begin{align}
    &1&2&3&4&4\\
    & & & &2&4\\
\end{align}

Answer 1

If the only reason for using align is to have elements aligned across columns, then an array environment would be an easier way to manage your situation. The column specification when using an array is straight-forward, and allows you to modify the width between columns very easily. Include the array package that provides the column separator specification @{} (as well as a host of other functionality). Here's an example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\begin{document}
 Regular array with centered columns:
\[\begin{array}{ccccc}
    1&2&3&4&4\\
     & & &2&4
\end{array}\]

 Varied spacing between columns:
\[\begin{array}{c@{\hspace{2em}}c@{\hspace{2pt}}c@{\hspace{2ex}}c@{\hspace{2bp}}c}
    1&2&3&4&4\\
     & & &2&4
\end{array}\]

Varied column alignment:
\[\begin{array}{ccclr}
    111&222&333&444&444\\
       &   &   &  2&4
\end{array}\]
\end{document}

If you want to remove the intercolumn spacing completely, use @{}.

Answer 2

Increase the value to whatever you like:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

$\arraycolsep=1.5pt%
\begin{array}{*6c}
    &1&2&3&4&4\\
    & & & &2&4\\
\end{array}$

\end{document}