I want my document to be a really long (multiple page) list if definitions. I want to do it in a table format. Here is what I have at the moment:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{pbox}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}

\title{Definitions \\ \large{G484 - Newtonian World}}
\author{Todd Davies}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\thispagestyle{empty}

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{>{\bf\centering\arraybackslash}m{1in} | X}
\large{Name} & \large{\textbf{Definition}}\\ \hline
Newton's first law & An object will remain at rest or keep
travelling at a constant velocity unless it is acted upon by an external
force.\\ \hline
Newton's second law & The net force acting on an object is equal
to the rate of change of it's momentum. The net force and change in momentum
are in the same direction.\\ \hline
Newton's third law & When two bodies interact, the forces they
exert on each other are equal and opposite.\\ \hline
Linear momentum & The product of an object's mass and velocity
($p=mv$). Momentum is a vector quantity.\\ \hline
Net force on a body & Is said to be equal to the rate of change
of the momentum of the body (Impulse).\\ \hline
Impulse of a force & The product of the force ($F$) and the time ($\Delta t$)
for which it acts ($impulse = F \Delta t$).\newline \newline This is the
area under a force time graph.\newline \newline Impulse = change in momentum
($impulse = \Delta p$)\\ \hline
Principle of conservation of momentum & In a closed system, when bodies
interact, the total momentum in any specified direction remains constant.\\
\hline
Perfectly elastic collision & A collision is perfectly elastic
when kinetic energy is conserved. Momentum and total energy are always
conserved.\\ \hline
Inelastic collision & A collision is inelastic when the kinetic
energy is not conserved, and some is transferred to other forms such as
heat. Momentum and total energy are always conserved.\\ \hline
Radian & $\pi$ radians = $180^\circ$\\ \hline
Gravitational field strength & The gravitational force
experienced by an object per unit mass ($g = \frac{F}{m}$).\\ \hline
Newton's law of gravitation & Any two point masses attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the square of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their seperation\\ \hline
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}


This is the output:

I have two problems:

1. I want the table to span multiple pages. This doesn't seem to be happening
2. Notice the top padding on cells in the right column when the corresponding cell on the left runs onto multiple lines. How do I get rid of this?

I suspect that I'm doing the whole thing wrong, and am open to a new suggestion of how I achieve my desired layout or just fixes for these two problems.

Many thanks!

-
for table spanning multiple pages use longtable or longtabu – mythealias Jan 12 '13 at 21:58
But then I can't use the features of tabularx can I? The new lines in the right hand column for example. Could you provide an example answer? – Todd Davies Jan 12 '13 at 21:59
The "padding" is due to a missing \noindent before \begin{tabularx}, which LaTeX considers just as a "big letter", so it starts a paragraph. By contrast, longtable hasn't this problem. – egreg Jan 12 '13 at 22:27

Using longtable and calc package.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{calc}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}

\title{Definitions \\ \large{G484 - Newtonian World}}
\author{Todd Davies}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\thispagestyle{empty}

\begin{longtable}{>{\bf\centering\arraybackslash}p{1in} | p{\textwidth-4\tabcolsep-1in}}
\large{Name} & \large{\textbf{Definition}}\\ \hline
Newton's first law & An object will remain at rest or keep
travelling at a constant velocity unless it is acted upon by an external
force.\\ \hline
Newton's second law & The net force acting on an object is equal
to the rate of change of it's momentum. The net force and change in momentum
are in the same direction.\\ \hline
Newton's third law & When two bodies interact, the forces they
exert on each other are equal and opposite.\\ \hline
Linear momentum & The product of an object's mass and velocity
($p=mv$). Momentum is a vector quantity.\\ \hline
Net force on a body & Is said to be equal to the rate of change
of the momentum of the body (Impulse).\\ \hline
Impulse of a force & The product of the force ($F$) and the time ($\Delta t$)
for which it acts ($impulse = F \Delta t$).\newline \newline This is the
area under a force time graph.\newline \newline Impulse = change in momentum
($impulse = \Delta p$)\\ \hline
Principle of conservation of momentum & In a closed system, when bodies
interact, the total momentum in any specified direction remains constant.\\
\hline
Perfectly elastic collision & A collision is perfectly elastic
when kinetic energy is conserved. Momentum and total energy are always
conserved.\\ \hline
Inelastic collision & A collision is inelastic when the kinetic
energy is not conserved, and some is transferred to other forms such as
heat. Momentum and total energy are always conserved.\\ \hline
Radian & $\pi$ radians = $180^\circ$\\ \hline
Gravitational field strength & The gravitational force
experienced by an object per unit mass ($g = \frac{F}{m}$).\\ \hline
Newton's law of gravitation & Any two point masses attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the square of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their seperation\\ \hline
\end{longtable}

\end{document}


With some improvements using booktabs package to replace hline by midrule.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{calc}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}

\title{Definitions \\ \large{G484 - Newtonian World}}
\author{Todd Davies}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\thispagestyle{empty}

\begin{longtable}{>{\bf\centering\arraybackslash}p{1in} p{\textwidth-4\tabcolsep-1in}}

\large{Name} & \large{\textbf{Definition}}\\ \midrule
\large{Name} & \large{\textbf{Definition}}\\ \midrule
\bottomrule
\multicolumn{2}{r}{continued \ldots}
\endfoot
\bottomrule
\endlastfoot

Newton's first law & An object will remain at rest or keep
travelling at a constant velocity unless it is acted upon by an external
force.\\ \midrule
Newton's second law & The net force acting on an object is equal
to the rate of change of it's momentum. The net force and change in momentum
are in the same direction.\\ \midrule
Newton's third law & When two bodies interact, the forces they
exert on each other are equal and opposite.\\ \midrule
Linear momentum & The product of an object's mass and velocity
($p=mv$). Momentum is a vector quantity.\\ \midrule
Net force on a body & Is said to be equal to the rate of change
of the momentum of the body (Impulse).\\ \midrule
Impulse of a force & The product of the force ($F$) and the time ($\Delta t$)
for which it acts ($impulse = F \Delta t$).\newline \newline This is the
area under a force time graph.\newline \newline Impulse = change in momentum
($impulse = \Delta p$)\\ \midrule
Principle of conservation of momentum & In a closed system, when bodies
interact, the total momentum in any specified direction remains constant.\\
\midrule
Perfectly elastic collision & A collision is perfectly elastic
when kinetic energy is conserved. Momentum and total energy are always
conserved.\\ \midrule
Inelastic collision & A collision is inelastic when the kinetic
energy is not conserved, and some is transferred to other forms such as
heat. Momentum and total energy are always conserved.\\ \midrule
Radian & $\pi$ radians = $180^\circ$\\ %\midrule
Gravitational field strength & The gravitational force
experienced by an object per unit mass ($g = \frac{F}{m}$).\\ \midrule
Newton's law of gravitation & Any two point masses attract each other with a force that is directly proportional to the square of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their seperation\\
\end{longtable}

\end{document}

-
I used the second one in the end, that is very helpful, thankyou! – Todd Davies Jan 13 '13 at 7:41
When trying this with \begin{tabular}{|c|c} the \midrule breaks the vertical lines. How can I make them continuos again? – Crowley Dec 5 '14 at 10:08

I think that the other answer gives you what you were originally intending.

However, for your task I would be tempted to use a simple itemize environment instead, and use the enumitem to help with the formatting.

I have used

\begin{itemize}[font=\bfseries,align=parleft,labelwidth=3cm]


in the MWE below, but you could use

\setlist[itemize]{font=\bfseries,align=parleft,labelwidth=3cm}


in your preamble and then simply

\begin{itemize}


in your document- the choice is yours.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}

\title{Definitions \\ \large{G484 - Newtonian World}}
\author{Todd Davies}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\thispagestyle{empty}

\begin{itemize}[font=\bfseries,align=parleft,labelwidth=3cm]
\item[Name] {\bfseries Definition}
\item[Newton's first law] An object will remain at rest or keep
travelling at a constant velocity unless it is acted upon by an external
force.
\item[Newton's second law] The net force acting on an object is equal
to the rate of change of it's momentum. The net force and change in momentum
are in the same direction.
\item[Newton's third law] When two bodies interact, the forces they
exert on each other are equal and opposite.
\item[Linear momentum]  The product of an object's mass and velocity
($p=mv$). Momentum is a vector quantity.
\item[Net force on a body] Is said to be equal to the rate of change
of the momentum of the body (Impulse).
\item[Impulse of a force] The product of the force ($F$) and the time ($\Delta t$)
for which it acts ($impulse = F \Delta t$).

This is the area under a force time graph.

Impulse = change in momentum
($impulse = \Delta p$)
\item[Principle of conservation of momentum] In a closed system, when bodies
interact, the total momentum in any specified direction remains constant.
\item[Perfectly elastic collision] A collision is perfectly elastic
when kinetic energy is conserved. Momentum and total energy are always
conserved.
\item[Inelastic collision] A collision is inelastic when the kinetic
energy is not conserved, and some is transferred to other forms such as
heat. Momentum and total energy are always conserved.
\item[Radian] $\pi$ radians = $180^\circ$
\item[Gravitational field strength] The gravitational force
experienced by an object per unit mass ($g = \frac{F}{m}$).
\item[Newton's law of gravitation] Any two point masses attract each other with a
force that is directly proportional to the square of their masses and
inversely proportional to the square of their seperation.
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

-