LaTeX - tables, multirow with non integer number of rows

Question

Editted to provide a clearer example

Basically I want to make a table that in one column has a series of dates and the second and third columns have a series of objectives for that date. However the number of elements in the second and third column are not the same, and do not share a common factor, however I want all three columns to be equally spaced vertically. In other words the vertical distance between the 2011-2012 should be the same to both Training 1 and Training 2, and they should be between the Objectives.

So, for example, what I want to do is:

\begin{tabular}{|l c c|}
    \hline
    Year & Objective & Training \\
    \hline
    \multirow{5}{*}{2011-2012} & Objective 1 & \multirow{1.5}{*}{Training 1} \\
                         & Objective 2 &                               \\
                         & Objective 3 & \multrow{1.5}{*}{Training 2}  \\
    \hline
\end{tabular}

To look something like:

             Year         Objective     Training
                          Objective 1
                                        Training 1
             2011-2012    Objective 2
                                        Training 2
                          Objective 3

But with the vertical space between Objectives compressed. Obviously this doesn't work as multirow expects an integer number. Is there another command where a non-integer number would work, or a work around to get the effect that I desire.

What is the best way of doing something like this?

Additional edit

This needs to be scalable, so that I can take any three numbers I choose and be able to make an evenly spaced table e.g.

The colours do not need to be replicated, they are merely illustrative (plus are easy enough to do via colorx). The top row are the titles, the multi-coloured segments are columns with a different number of elements (the number of elements in each column is stated in the title).

Answer 1

Exactly what you're doing is fine, but your use of the multirow package and associated \multirow command is incorrect:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}% http://ctan.org/pkg/multirow
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l c c|}
    \hline
    Year & Objective & Training \\
    \hline
    \multirow{5}*{2011-2012} & Objective 1 & \multirow{2}*{Training 1} \\
                         & Objective 2 &                               \\
                         & Objective 3 & \multirow{3}*{Training 2}  \\
                         & Objective 4 &                               \\
                         & Objective 5 &                               \\
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}​

In its simplest form, the use is \multirow{<num rows>}{<width>}{<stuff>} where <num rows> is an integer denoting the number of rows to spread <stuff> across. A <width> of * denotes the natural width of <stuff>.

Just in terms of presentation, you could also use booktabs. The motivation being that vertical lines are not required since the structure inherent in a table is columnar, so there's no need to pursue the use of vertical rules:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}% http://ctan.org/pkg/multirow
\usepackage{booktabs}% http://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{l c c}
    \toprule
    Year & Objective & Training \\
    \midrule
    \multirow{5}*{2011-2012} & Objective 1 & \multirow{2}*{Training 1} \\
                         & Objective 2 &                               \\
                         & Objective 3 & \multirow{3}*{Training 2}  \\
                         & Objective 4 &                               \\
                         & Objective 5 &                               \\
    \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}​

---

Following your edit, you can still specify integer values to have \multirow entries in the way you present:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multirow}% http://ctan.org/pkg/multirow
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|l c c|}
    \hline
    Year & Objective & Training \\
    \hline
    \multirow{3}*{2011-2012} & Objective 1 & \multirow{2}*{Training 1} \\
                         & Objective 2 & \multirow{2}*{Training 2} \\
                         & Objective 3 & \\
    \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}​

Moreover, the same output as above is obtained if you even use a negative number of rows for \multirow. That is, to use the following tabular setup:

\begin{tabular}{|l c c|}
    \hline
    Year & Objective & Training \\
    \hline
    \multirow{3}*{2011-2012} & Objective 1 & \multirow{2}*{Training 1} \\
                         & Objective 2 & \\
                         & Objective 3 & \multirow{-2}*{Training 2}\\
    \hline
\end{tabular}

---

Final edit update:

Centering content within a table is also possible via the m-column type from the array package. So, in order to duplicate the result (without colours and lines/rules), here's one way of doing it:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}% http://ctan.org/pkg/booktabs
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\newcolumntype{C}{@{}c@{}}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{*{10}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{2em}}}
  \toprule
  A & B & C & D & E & F & G & H & I & J \\
  \midrule
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\\7\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\\7\\8\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\\7\\8\\9\end{tabular} &
  \begin{tabular}{C}1\\2\\3\\4\\5\\6\\7\\8\\9\\10\end{tabular} \\
  \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{document}​