# How can I move an equation without affecting the label?

I am having an issue with the automatic LaTeX equation and label formatting on one of my longer equations (see results below).

Minimum Working Example

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{epstopdf}
\usepackage{xfrac}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{top=1in, bottom=1in,
left=1in, right=1in}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{color}
\newcommand{\Cline}[2][red]{
\text{\oalign{$#2$\cr\color{#1}\leaders\hrule height 0.80pt\hfil\cr}}}

\begin{document}
\numberwithin{equation}{section}

$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$
$$a=b$$

\noindent Expanding the covariant derivatives then yields
$$\begin{split} R^{\sigma}_{\mu\rho\nu} = \bar{R}^{\sigma}_{\mu\rho\nu} &+\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\beta}\partial_{\rho}\bigl(\partial_{\mu}h_{\nu\beta} -\! \bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\mu\nu}h_{\tau\beta} -\! \Cline[Orange]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\mu\beta}h_{\tau\nu}}\bigr) +\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\beta}\partial_{\rho}\bigl(\partial_{\nu}h_{\mu\beta} -\! \bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\mu\nu}h_{\tau\beta} -\! \Cline[Magenta]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\nu\beta}h_{\tau\mu}}\bigr) \\ &-\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\beta}\partial_{\rho}\bigl(\partial_{\beta}h_{\mu\nu} -\! \Cline[Orange]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\beta\mu}h_{\tau\nu}} -\! \Cline[Magenta]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\beta\nu}h_{\tau\mu}}\bigr) -\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\alpha}\partial_{\nu}\bigl(\partial_{\mu}h_{\rho\alpha} -\! \bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\mu\rho}h_{\tau\alpha} -\! \Cline[Green]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\mu\alpha}h_{\tau\rho}}\bigr) \\ &-\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\alpha}\partial_{\nu}\bigl(\partial_{\rho}h_{\mu\alpha} -\! \bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\rho\mu}h_{\tau\alpha} -\! \Cline[Blue]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\rho\alpha}h_{\tau\mu}}\bigr) +\tfrac{1}{2} \bar{g}^{\sigma\alpha}\partial_{\nu}\bigl(\partial_{\alpha}h_{\mu\rho} -\! \Cline[Green]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\alpha\mu}h_{\tau\rho}} -\! \Cline[Blue]{\bar{\Gamma}^{\tau}_{\alpha\rho}h_{\tau\mu}}\bigr). \end{split}$$
With the symmetries of the Christoffel symbols, the underlined terms cancel, whereas the
\end{document}


Equation (0.10)

The MWE above gives the result

I think this looks ugly.

Equation (0.9)

Here is what the same equation looks like if you delete on of the $a=b$ equation:

I think that this formatting looks better, with the label at the side. LaTeX is obviously following some predefined rule about spacing, the label won't fit in the above example, so it puts it at the bottom. Is there a nice way to over-rule this? Or, is there a way to move my equation slightly to the left so that the label would fit according to what LaTeX 'thinks' is best.

• The problem is that your label gets too wide... – vonbrand Feb 26 '13 at 15:34
• Perhaps split before the first +? That also separates the part of the formula you are really messing with... – vonbrand Feb 26 '13 at 15:36
• @vonbrand's first comment: You don't say. – User 17670 Feb 26 '13 at 15:46

It's a quick hack and not exactly user-friendly, but a simple \hspace{-1cm} right after \begin{split} does the trick:
Of course you can mess with the actual value inside \hspace to your fancy, so long as it's negative (a positive argument will obviously move it to the right).
• I would prefer \mkern-5mu – user11232 Feb 26 '13 at 15:23
• Plain TeX is weird. While I barely know what that means, \hspace is more clear as to what it's doing. What does \mkern do differently from \hspace (or \kern, for all that matters)? – Sean Allred Feb 26 '13 at 15:25