# Big spaces in output

When I run the following code, there's a huge space between the last bit of text and the final table. Why is this? Also, how can I create a blank line between the final paragraph of text and the table above it?

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[top = 1in, bottom = 1in, right = 1in, left = 1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bigstrut}
\begin{document}
\begin{titlepage}

\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}} % Defines a new command for the horizontal lines, change thickness here

\center % Center everything on the page

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\textsc{\LARGE University College Cork}\\[1.5cm] % Name of your university/college
\textsc{\Large CE 2001: Lab Reports}\\[0.5cm] % Major heading such as course name
\textsc{\large Dr. Virkam Pakrashi}\\[0.5cm] % Minor heading such as course title

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   TITLE SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\HRule \\[0.4cm]
{ \huge \bfseries \#2: Bending Stress In Beams}\\[0.4cm] % Title of your document
\HRule \\[1.5cm]

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   AUTHOR SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\begin{minipage}{0.4\textwidth}
\large
\textbf{{\Large{Authors:}}}\\\\
David \textsc{O'Sullivan}\\ Yuriy \textsc{Lishchynskyy}\\ John \textsc{Kearney}\\ Billy \textsc{O'Connor}\\ Eoghan \textsc{Kelleher}  % Your name
\end{minipage}
~
%\begin{minipage}{0.4\textwidth}
%\begin{flushright} \large
%\emph{Instructors:}\\ Mr. Paul \textsc{Smith}\\Mr. Ciaran \textsc{Smith}% Supervisor's Name
%\end{flushright}
%\end{minipage}
\\[4cm]

% If you don't want a supervisor, uncomment the two lines below and remove the section above
%\Large \emph{Author:}\\
%John \textsc{Smith}\\[3cm] % Your name

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   DATE SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

{\large \today}\\[3cm] % Date, change the \today to a set date if you want to be precise

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%   LOGO SECTION
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

%\includegraphics{Logo}\\[1cm] % Include a department/university logo - this will require the graphicx package

%----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

\vfill % Fill the rest of the page with whitespace

\end{titlepage}
\section{Results:}
The dimensions of the beam are as follows:
The following is a table of the various loads applied and and the corresponding values of strain for the gauges 1 $\rightarrow$ 9.
\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}  \hline

\textbf{Gauge Number} & \multicolumn{6}{|c|}{\textbf{Load (N)}} \\
& \textbf{0} & \textbf{100} & \textbf{200} & \textbf{300} & \textbf{400} & \textbf{500} \\ \hline
1     & -128  & -230  & -332  & -434  & -538  & -649 \\ \hline
2     & 35    & -37   & -108  & -179  & -252  & -329 \\ \hline
3     & 1089  & 1089  & 1089  & 1089  & 1049  & 973 \\ \hline
4     & 5     & -9    & -22   & -36   & -48   & -63 \\ \hline
5     & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088 \\ \hline
6     & 77    & 96    & 116   & 134   & 156   & 175 \\ \hline
7     & 731   & 751   & 771   & 792   & 814   & 836 \\ \hline
8     & 129   & 172   & 217   & 261   & 309   & 355 \\ \hline
9     & 58    & 104   & 149   & 195   & 243   & 293 \\ \hline

\end{tabular}
\end{table}\\
The loads in the previous tables can be used to calculate the bending moment about the end points of the beam via the following formula: $$\boxed{M = \frac{-W}{2}\times0.305}$$
Where $W$ is the applied load and the value 0.305 is the distance, in metres, of the applied loads line of action from the end points of the beam. Once the various different bending moments due to the applied loads have been calculated, the following table can be formed:

\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline

\textbf{Gauge Number} & \multicolumn{6}{|c|}{\textbf{BM (Nm) and Corrected Strain Readings}} \\
& \textbf{0} & \textbf{-15.25} & \textbf{-30.5} & \textbf{-45.75} & \textbf{-61} & \textbf{-76.25} \\ \hline
1     & 0     & -102  & -204  & -306  & -410  & -521 \\ \hline
2     & 0     & -72   & -143  & -214  & -287  & -364 \\ \hline
3     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & -40   & -116 \\ \hline
4     & 0     & -14   & -27   & -41   & -53   & -68 \\ \hline
5     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0 \\ \hline
6     & 0     & 19    & 39    & 57    & 79    & 98 \\ \hline
7     & 0     & 20    & 40    & 61    & 83    & 105 \\ \hline
8     & 0     & 43    & 88    & 132   & 180   & 226 \\ \hline
9     & 0     & 46    & 91    & 137   & 185   & 235 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
A number of the gauges occupy the same vertical position on the T-section and thus can be grouped together depending on their displacement from the top/bottom (the datum is arbitrary). Once this is done, a table of $M$ and the strain values for the corresponding gauge groupings can be created. The table can be structured as such:
\begin{table}[htbp]

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline
\textbf{Gauge Number} & \textbf{Vertical Position (mm)} & \multicolumn{6}{|c|}{\textbf{Bending Moment (Nm)}} \\

&       & \textbf{0} & \textbf{-15.25} & \textbf{-30.5} & \textbf{-45.75} & \textbf{-61} & \textbf{-76.25} \\ \hline
1     & 0     & 0     & -102  & -204  & -306  & -410  & -521 \\ \hline
2,3   & 8     & 0     & -36   & -71.5 & -107  & -163.5 & -240 \\ \hline
4,5   & 23    & 0     & -7    & -13.5 & -20.5 & -26.5 & -34 \\ \hline
6,7   & 31.7  & 0     & 19.5  & 39.5  & 59    & 81    & 101.5 \\ \hline
8,9   & 38.1  & 0     & 44.5  & 89.5  & 134.5 & 182.5 & 230.5 \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

• Don't use \\ to end paragraphs. – egreg Nov 26 '13 at 20:20
• You don't seem to be using the "floating" aspect of LaTeX floats at all. You don't seem to be using the \caption feature either. Why not just leave off the final \begin{table} and \end{table} statements entirely? – Mico Nov 26 '13 at 21:11
• What do you mean by the 'floating' aspect? – David O'Sullivan Nov 26 '13 at 21:11
• For a general introduction to what LaTeX floats are and how their positioning on a page is determined, see the postingHow to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX?. – Mico Nov 26 '13 at 21:25

• The usage of \\[<dimen>] is mostly wrong; font size changing commands should better be ended by \par

• Your usage of \center in titlepage is wrong, better \centering

• Better a tabular than a minipage for the authors

• Don't end a section title with a colon

• It should be $1\rightarrow 9$

• There should be a blank line before \begin{table}

• There should be a blank line after \end{table}; \end{table}\\ is surely wrong

•  at the end of the \boxed formula is wrong

• You should use indirect references to tables and not “the following table”, because you don't know whether the table will end up where you'd ideally place it

• Tables should have a caption

• The headers in the second table are numbers, so they should be medium series and in a math formula, so that the minus sign is correct

• Numeric data should be treated with the S column type provided by siunitx.

• Long headers can be abbreviated so they don't spoil the table

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin = 1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{titlepage}

\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}}

\centering

{\scshape\LARGE University College Cork\par}

\vspace{1cm}

{\scshape\Large CE 2001: Lab Reports\par}
{\scshape\large Dr. Virkam Pakrashi\par}

\HRule

\vspace{0.4cm}

{\huge \bfseries \#2: Bending Stress In Beams\par}

\vspace{0.4cm}

\HRule

\vspace{1.5cm}

{\large
\begin{tabular}{@{}l@{}}
\Large\textbf{Authors:}\\
David \textsc{O'Sullivan}\\
Yuriy \textsc{Lishchynskyy}\\
John \textsc{Kearney}\\
Billy \textsc{O'Connor}\\
Eoghan \textsc{Kelleher}
\end{tabular}
\par}

\vspace{4cm}

{\large \today\par}

\vfill

\end{titlepage}

\section{Results}

The dimensions of the beam are as follows: table~\ref{tab:loads} reports
the various loads applied and the corresponding values of strain for the
gauges $1\rightarrow 9$.

\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering

\caption{Loads applied and corresponding values of strain;
GN stands for Gauge Number''}\label{tab:loads}

\medskip

\begin{tabular}{c *{6}{S[table-format=-4.0]} }
\toprule

\textbf{GN} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{\textbf{Load (N)}} \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
& {$0$} & {$100$} & {$200$} & {$300$} & {$400$} & {$500$} \\
\midrule
1 & -128  & -230  & -332  & -434  & -538  & -649 \\
2 & 35    & -37   & -108  & -179  & -252  & -329 \\
3 & 1089  & 1089  & 1089  & 1089  & 1049  & 973 \\
4 & 5     & -9    & -22   & -36   & -48   & -63 \\
5 & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088  & 1088 \\
6 & 77    & 96    & 116   & 134   & 156   & 175 \\
7 & 731   & 751   & 771   & 792   & 814   & 836 \\
8 & 129   & 172   & 217   & 261   & 309   & 355 \\
9 & 58    & 104   & 149   & 195   & 243   & 293 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

The loads in the table~\ref{tab:loads} can be used to calculate the
bending moment about the end points of the beam via the following formula:
$$\boxed{M = \frac{-W}{2}\times0.305}$$
where $W$ is the applied load and the value $0.305$ is the distance,
in metres, of the applied loads line of action from the end points of the
beam. Once the various different bending moments due to the applied loads
have been calculated, table~\ref{tab:corrloads} can be formed.

\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering

GN stands for Gauge Number''}\label{tab:corrloads}

\medskip

\begin{tabular}{ c *{6}{S[table-format=-3.0]} }
\toprule
\textbf{GN} &
\multicolumn{6}{c}{\textbf{BM (\si{Nm}) and Corrected Strain Readings}} \\
\cmidrule{2-7}
& {$0$} & {$-15.25$} & {$-30.5$} & {$-45.75$} & {$-61$} & {$-76.25$} \\
\midrule
1 & 0     & -102  & -204  & -306  & -410  & -521 \\
2 & 0     & -72   & -143  & -214  & -287  & -364 \\
3 & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & -40   & -116 \\
4 & 0     & -14   & -27   & -41   & -53   & -68 \\
5 & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0     & 0 \\
6 & 0     & 19    & 39    & 57    & 79    & 98 \\
7 & 0     & 20    & 40    & 61    & 83    & 105 \\
8 & 0     & 43    & 88    & 132   & 180   & 226 \\
9 & 0     & 46    & 91    & 137   & 185   & 235 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

A number of the gauges occupy the same vertical position on the T-section
and thus can be grouped together depending on their displacement from the
top/bottom (the datum is arbitrary). Once this is done, a table of $M$ and
the strain values for the corresponding gauge groupings can be created.
The table can be structured as seen in table~\ref{tab:again}.

\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering

\caption{Corrected data;
GN stands for Gauge Number'',
VP stands for Vertical Position''}\label{tab:again}

\medskip

\begin{tabular}{ c S[table-format=2.1] *{6}{S[table-format=-3.1]} }
\toprule
\textbf{GN} &
\textbf{VP (\si{mm})} &
\multicolumn{6}{c}{\textbf{Bending Moment (\si{Nm})}} \\
\cmidrule{3-8}
&       & {$0$} & {$-15.25$} & {$-30.5$} & {$-45.75$} & {$-61$} & {$-76.25$} \\
\midrule
1   & 0     & 0     & -102  & -204  & -306  & -410  & -521 \\
2,3 & 8     & 0     & -36   & -71.5 & -107  & -163.5 & -240 \\
4,5 & 23    & 0     & -7    & -13.5 & -20.5 & -26.5 & -34 \\
6,7 & 31.7  & 0     & 19.5  & 39.5  & 59    & 81    & 101.5 \\
8,9 & 38.1  & 0     & 44.5  & 89.5  & 134.5 & 182.5 & 230.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}


• @DavidO'Sullivan Long experience in editing papers. ;-) I'm rather dubious about \boxed, to be honest. Do you really think you need it? – egreg Nov 26 '13 at 22:01
• With this setup, the third table is still placed in the middle of the final page, as it's on a floats-only page. Should you be providing the instructions \makeatletter \setlength{\@fptop}{0pt} \makeatother have the final table be place at the top of the page? – Mico Nov 26 '13 at 22:08
• @Mico Of course; I suppose this isn't the complete paper. – egreg Nov 26 '13 at 22:10

To have a "float", such as table environment, be typeset at the top of the page on a floats-only page (rather than be centered vertically on the page, which is the default), you could issue the following commands in your document's preamble:

\makeatletter
\setlength{\@fptop}{0pt}
\setlength{\@fpbot}{0pt plus 1fil}
\makeatother


The vertical distance between an in-text LaTeX float (such as your second table) and the text above or below it is governed by the length parameter \intextsep. To increase the value of this parameter by one blank line, you could issue the command
\addtolength\intextsep{1\baselineskip}

(1) The table is centered on the page because it is the only item on the page. Adding \newpage on line 110 of your document, and thus moving the paragraph starting with "A number of gauges..." to the page with the table, will be an initial step to resolve your first problem.
(2) You can insert arbitrary vertical space with \vspace{0.5cm} or whatever your preferred distance is. If you just want to add an additional blank line, insert \newline.