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up vote 5 down vote favorite

I am trying to subtract one equation from another but I can't get it to display the way that I want. This is what I have right now.

\begin{align*}
&y&=2x+5\\   
-&&\\    
&y&=3x+10\\\hline   
&0&=-x-5    
\end{align*}
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5  
Well, how do you want it to display? – Ryan Reich Feb 1 '12 at 19:22
Is this to demonstrate solving linear equations by addition? If so, why not multiply the bottom equation by -1 and present it as addition as you have it: (a la purplemath.com/modules/systlin5.htm). – badroit Feb 1 '12 at 19:26
It looks like this began life as an eqnarray. Try loosing the second & on each line just to start with. – Mark S. Everitt Feb 1 '12 at 19:27

3 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

This does not look very good but seems close to what your code is attempting to do, where I use \cline{} to draw the horizontal line, and \phantom{y=} to push the minus sign to the left

enter image description here

Recomended Solution:

However, I would suggest the use of \intertext or \shortintertext from the mathtools package, and refer to the equations:

enter image description here

Notes:

  • Requires two runs: first run will display a (??) in the cross reference.
  • \shortintertext yields better spacing but requires an additional package. Alternatively, you can use \intertext which is available in amsmath.
  • The mathtools package already includes amsmath.

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
    y&=2x+5\\   
    -\phantom{y=}&\\    
    y&=3x+10\\
   \cline{1-2}
    0&=-x-5    
\end{align*}
\end{document}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\begin{document}
\begin{align}
    y&=2x+5 \label{eqn:one}\\
    y&=3x+10 \label{eqn:two}\\
  \shortintertext{Subtracting \eqref{eqn:two} from \eqref{eqn:one} yields}
    0&=-x-5  \notag
\end{align}
\end{document}
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+1 for the recommended version :-) – Tobi Feb 1 '12 at 21:59
1  
The recommended version is indeed much better in my opinion. A small nitpick: \eqref might be better to make a distinction between numbers and equations. – percusse Feb 1 '12 at 22:07
Seeing your recommended version, I think that it is a better approach. – russjohnson09 Feb 1 '12 at 23:36
@percusse: Thanks for pointing that out. Have updated the solution to correct that. – Peter Grill Feb 2 '12 at 0:34
up vote 7 down vote

My two-cents worth, using more of a textual representation and an array:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}
\[
  \begin{array}{l@{\quad}cr@{\;}l}
    && y & = 2x+5 \\
    \text{minus} && y & = 3x+10 \\ \cline{2-4}
    && 0 & = -x-5
  \end{array}
\]
\end{document}​

The additional (second) column is to allow for the \cline to have a little padding around the equations. Modify \quad to \hspace{<len>} to have a gap of length <len> between "minus" and the equation.

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up vote 5 down vote

Here is my solution: enter image description here

\documentclass[]{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{alignat*}{4}
    &y&=&&2x&&+&5\\   
    -\hspace*{.5em}&y&=&&3x&&+&10\\[-2.5ex]\cline{2-8}\\[-4.8ex]
    &0&=&&-x&&-&5    
\end{alignat*}

\end{document}

I use the alignat enviroment from amsmath

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1  
Good one. Your spacing around the = on the second line is wrong. try removing the first & on each line. Hmmmm, on second thought, the location of the minus sign means "negative y", not minus the entire equation... – Peter Grill Feb 1 '12 at 20:03
I already noted the problem. and posted the corrected version. thx ;) – someonr Feb 1 '12 at 20:05
1  
Actually you should just use a single & to get the proper math spacing. Still there is a problem with the meaning of "minus y", which is not the OP's intent. – Peter Grill Feb 1 '12 at 20:07
Yeah ok. I fixed it... But I'm not sure what russjohnson09 would like to see – someonr Feb 1 '12 at 20:20

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