aboxed across multiple alignment

Question

I would like to have the entire last line in a box, but when I compile, it only boxes the first equation and doesn't even print the second equation. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Here's my MWE.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{mathtools}

\begin{document}

\begin{alignat*}{3}
    \left| x \right. & \left. - 2 \right| & &=1 &\\
    x - 2 &= 1& &\text{ or } & x - 2 &= -1\\
    \Aboxed{x &= 3& &\text{ or }& x &= 1}
\end{alignat*}

\end{document}

I was going to include an image of what it produces, but it won't let me since I'm a new user. :)

Answer 1

It possible to create a box of the correct width to span across the entries in the last row manually:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}

\begin{alignat*}{3}
  \left| x \right. & \left. - 2 \right| & &=1 &\\
  x - 2 &= 1& &\text{ or } & x - 2 &= -1\\
  \rlap{\kern\dimexpr-\fboxsep-\fboxrule\relax\fbox{\phantom{$x=3\text{ or\ \ }x - 2 = 1$}}}% Phantom box
  x &= 3& &\text{ or }& x &= 1
\end{alignat*}

\end{document}​

The approach here is to create a box with fake (or \phantom) content that matches the output generated via alignat*. Minor \kerning allows for appropriate placement due to \fbox separation (\fboxsep) and rule width (\fboxrule).