# Subequations inside align result in too wide equation

I want to create subequations and allign them such that nice 'inquality constraints' arise. My current code:

\begin{subequations}
\begin{align}
a & \le b & \le c \label{eq:constr1}\\
d & \le effff & \le f \label{eq:constr1}\\
\end{align}
\label{eq:constr}%
\end{subequations}


The result in PDF is a much too large distance between "b and c" and "efffff and f". I would like to have \le exactly below eachother. Have b and effff centered between those. Finally a and d should be right aligned to the \le and c and f should be left aligned to the \le.

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Leave the second & out. The columns in align (and family) are rlrlrl… aligned. Or use aligned and a & \le b && \le c. –  Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 2 '12 at 21:50
Also, don't use the same \label ("eq:constr1") more than once. –  Mico Dec 2 '12 at 21:52
… or (“centering for b and e”) use simply a \le b & \le c (i.e. leave the first & out). Related: alignat examples, more complex case of alignments –  Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 2 '12 at 21:58
In reality b and e are strings of unequal length, sorry for not mentioning that. –  Martijn Dec 2 '12 at 22:14
@Martijn Well, a minimal working example (MWE) could help out and maybe an image of what you actually want to achieve. –  Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 2 '12 at 22:19

If you want the middle column to be centered than you need to either resort to using a \makebox to reserve enough width for that column, which requires knowing what the widest element is beforehand, or to use an array:

## Notes

• The alignat provides pairs of rl aligned equations. Since we want the third column to be left aligned, we need to use a && to skip past the prior column that would have been right aligned.
• For the array solution we need to use {} to make the inequality symbols be treated as relational operators, similar to the difference in spacing of $-x$ and ${}-x$.
• The calc package was used for the \widthof{} macro, so is only required for the alignat solution.
• As Qrrbrbirlbel commented, you could make use of the array package and incorporate the required {} into the column specification, as shown in the last example in the code below.

## Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{array}

\newcommand*{\Widest}{effff}%
\newcommand*{\WideAs}[1]{\makebox[\widthof{$\Widest$}][c]{$#1$}}%
\begin{document}\noindent
You can use \verb|alignat|:
%
\begin{alignat*}{3}
a & \le \WideAs{b}     && \le c \\
d & \le \WideAs{effff} && \le f
\end{alignat*}
%
Or use \verb|array|:
%
$\begin{array}{r@{}c@{}l} a \le {}& b &{} \le c \\ d \le {}& effff &{} \le f \end{array}$
%
Alternatively using the \verb|array| package:
$\begin{array}{r<{{}}@{}c@{}>{{}}l} a \le & b & \le c \\ d \le & effff & \le f \end{array}$
\end{document}

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You could use {r<{{}}@{}c@{}>{{}}l} (array package) to mimic the behavior of *align* and wouldn’t have to manually insert {}. And you might point out that alignat does provide equation numbers quite easier than array. –  Qrrbrbirlbel Dec 3 '12 at 3:05
@Qrrbrbirlbel: Thanks, incorporated that as well. –  Peter Grill Dec 3 '12 at 3:11
Thank you so much! The equations however are compressed in height as would normally don for using $some-equation$. What would be a solution to keep the proper full size? –  Martijn Dec 3 '12 at 9:26
@Martijn: I do not know why you think the equations are compressed. The solutions here produce the correct display mode math spacing. If you are using inline math (as is the case $some-equation$, then the equations are compressed in order to not alter the interline spacing of a paragraph. –  Peter Grill Dec 3 '12 at 9:33
If you still think they are compressed I would recommend you post a follow up question and be sure to include a minimum working example including \documentclass and the appropriate packages that illustrates this compression. It should start with \documentclass{} and end with \end{document}. –  Peter Grill Dec 3 '12 at 9:34