# LaTeX - How do I prevent extra whitespace when an equation falls at top of page

I am a newbie to LaTeX, so if this question is simple to answer please forgive me.

I wish to keep the content in my document flush with the top margin. However, when an equation falls at the top of a page as in the MWE below, the equation environment skips down as if it were following a paragraph. How can I prevent this? Thank you in advance~

Added: I have already tried adding a \vspace{-xx} without success.

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[centertags]{amsmath}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\setlength{\topmargin}{-0.25in}
\begin{document}
%
\lipsum[1]
%
\cleardoublepage
%
$$\rho_{s} A r_{tt}(t,\ell) + \gamma I r_{t\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) + E I r_{\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) = f_{D}(t,\ell)$$
%
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

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## migrated from stackoverflow.comJul 27 '12 at 10:15

This question came from our site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

Use \vspace*{-1cm} –  JLDiaz Jul 27 '12 at 10:37
Welcome to TeX.sx! Your question was migrated here from Stack Overflow. Please register on this site, too, and make sure that both accounts are associated with each other (by using the same OpenID), otherwise you won't be able to comment on or accept answers or edit your question. –  Torbjørn T. Jul 27 '12 at 12:28
please don't consider this as too mean-spirited, but at least in math publishing, it's considered bad form to start a page with a displayed equation. from the texbook, p.189: "... fine printers traditionally shun displayed formulas at the very top of a page." –  barbara beeton Jul 27 '12 at 12:45

Typical math usage should form part of the textual content. So, just like one would use

... so let $x=y$ and then it is clear to see that ...


it is customary to use

... and therefore consider
$$f(x) = ax^2 + bx + c.$$
It follows that ...


Note that there is no paragraph break (or empty line) between the text and the display equation. This usage disallows displayed formulas to appear at the very top of the page.

In your instance, however, a forced \clearpage necessarily pushes the content immediately after the page break. This manual forcing is most likely countered by some manual intervention of the form:

%...
\clearpage
\mbox{}\par
\kern-2\baselineskip
$$\rho_{s} A r_{tt}(t,\ell) + \gamma I r_{t\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) + E I r_{\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) = f_{D}(t,\ell)$$
%...


The above holds for the default values of the document class. Changes to \abovedisplayshortskip or even \parskip should be incorporated in the vertical adjustment if they are modified.

Here's a minimal example showing the complete usage:

\documentclass[12pt]{report}
\usepackage[centertags]{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\usepackage{showframe,lipsum}% http://ctan.org/pkg/{showframe,lipsum}
\begin{document}
%
\lipsum[1]
%
\cleardoublepage
%
\setlength{\abovedisplayshortskip}{30pt}%
\mbox{}\par
\kern-2\baselineskip
$$\rho_{s} A r_{tt}(t,\ell) + \gamma I r_{t\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) + E I r_{\ell\ell\ell\ell}(t,\ell) = f_{D}(t,\ell)$$
%
\lipsum[2]
\end{document}


showframe was added to highlight the text block boundary.

More adjustments of this nature is available from the following sources:

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