# How to break a long equation? [duplicate]

I have a long equation but long enough to occupy two lines. I want to break it to improve readability. How can I break it?

$$F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap (minPixels < |S| < maxPixels) \cap (|S_{conected}| > |S| - \epsilon) \}$$


I wan to break it in 3 lines after \cap. But \\ or \n didn't work

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## marked as duplicate by Zarko, Werner, Paul Gaborit, Herr K., Christian HupferDec 29 '15 at 23:41

Relevant: automatic line breaking for long equations using the breqn package. – Ioannis Filippidis Feb 4 '15 at 9:29

Use split environment provided by amsmath package.

$$\begin{split} F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} &: (|S| > |C|) \\ &\quad \cap (\text{minPixels} < |S| < \text{maxPixels}) \\ &\quad \cap (|S_{\text{conected}}| > |S| - \epsilon) \} \end{split}$$

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And it would look even nicer with a \mathrm{minPixels} and \mathrm{maxPixels} and \mathrm{connected}. – Bruno Le Floch Jan 14 '11 at 12:12
@Bruno: I agree. I edited the answer to use \text. – Leo Liu Jan 14 '11 at 15:44
Be aware that \text inherits formatting from the surrounding text (which might be italic in a theorem environment). – Caramdir Jan 14 '11 at 16:58
When using \right( and \left) or similar, one should be careful. The \left. and \right. should be used in order to avoid splitting of brackets pairs. For example a line should have the form \left( \ldots \right. \ when it involves this kind of brackets. – Dror Jan 9 '12 at 11:15

For simple multi-line equations without alignment, use the multline environment:

\begin{multline}
F = \{F_{x} \in  F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap
(minPixels  < |S| < maxPixels) \\ \cap
(|S_{conected}| > |S| - \epsilon)
\}
\end{multline}

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But you would want alignment here, wouldn't you? – Marc van Dongen Jan 2 '13 at 8:41

The mathtools package provides the multlined environment.

$$\begin{multlined} F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \\ \shoveleft[1cm]{\cap (\mathrm{minPixels} < |S| < \mathrm{maxPixels})} \\ \cap (|S_{\mathrm{connected}}| > |S| - \epsilon) \} \end{multlined}$$

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I checked the latest version of the mathtools package (1.17) and it has no such environment. Perhaps it's been removed since you posted your answer. – Psychonaut Nov 7 '15 at 20:39

The aligned environment from amsmath is also a good option:

\begin{aligned} F ={} & \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \\ & \cap (\mathrm{minPixels} < |S| < \mathrm{maxPixels}) \\ & \cap (|S_{\mathrm{conected}}| > |S| - \epsilon)\} \end{aligned}


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\begin{eqnarray}
F = \{F_{x} \in  F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap \nonumber \\
(minPixels  < |S| < maxPixels) \cap \nonumber \\
(|S_{conected}| > |S| - \epsilon)
\\}
\end{eqnarray}

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Don't use {eqnarray}: eqnarray vs align – clemens Mar 3 '13 at 12:50
Isn't using eqnarray a bit pointless if no alignment ponts are employed? (The fact eqnarray is badly deprecated is another strike against it.) – Mico Nov 18 '14 at 7:37

## protected by Community♦Jul 22 '15 at 12:04

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