Table Formatting - Width

Question

Okay so I am having some trouble with tables in Latex. I tried to find a solution within the already asked questions out there, but I haven't been able to either make sense or get these to work. Here is my table code:

    \begin{table}[ht]
    \caption{Model Input Information: Materials}
    \centering
    \begin{tabular}{c c c}
    \toprule
    Available Materials & Material Input Parameters & Description \\
    \midrule
        Fused Silica (delta eV = 9) & alpha & Avalanche Coefficient [\si{\cm\squared\per\joule}] \\
        Fused Silica (delta eV = 7.5) & delta eV & Material Band Gap [\si{\electronvolt}] \\
        \ce{GaAs} & me & Effective Electron Mass [\si{\kilogram}] \\
        \ce{ZnSe} & n0 & Linear Refractive Index \\
        \ce{Ge} & n2 & Non-Linear Refractive Index \\
        \ce{HfO_2} & T & Effective Decay Constant [fs] \\
        \ce{TiO_2} & & \\
        \ce{Ta_2O_5} & & \\
        \ce{Al_2O_3} & & \\
        \ce{SiO_2} & & \\
    \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}
    \label{table:MaterialInputs}
    \end{table}

The table looks good but it extends way too far right, almost to the edge of the page. I need a way to fix this. I've tried using p within the tabular command to set the widths manually, but I don't like what it does when wrapping the text. It creates hyphens on words instead of bringing them down a line.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

This shows fixed width columns with ragged setting:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{array,mhchem,booktabs,siunitx}% please don't leave it to people to guess these

\begin{document}

    \begin{table}[htp]% don't forget p
    \caption{Model Input Information: Materials}
    \centering
    \begin{tabular}{
 >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{4cm}
 c
 >{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{2.5cm}}
    \toprule
    Available Materials & Material Input Parameters & Description \\
    \midrule
        Fused Silica (delta eV = 9) & alpha & Avalanche Coefficient [\si{\cm\squared\per\joule}] \\
        Fused Silica (delta eV = 7.5) & delta eV & Material Band Gap [\si{\electronvolt}] \\
        \ce{GaAs} & me & Effective Electron Mass [\si{\kilogram}] \\
        \ce{ZnSe} & n0 & Linear Refractive Index \\
        \ce{Ge} & n2 & Non-Linear Refractive Index \\
        \ce{HfO_2} & T & Effective Decay Constant [fs] \\
        \ce{TiO_2} & & \\
        \ce{Ta_2O_5} & & \\
        \ce{Al_2O_3} & & \\
        \ce{SiO_2} & & \\
    \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}
    \label{table:MaterialInputs}
    \end{table}

\end{document}

Answer 2

You can use the makecell package: it lets you change line in a cell, defines a command for column heads and you can enlarge the vertical spacing of the rows, usually too tight. I also added the caption package, so the vertical spacing between the caption and the table.

        \documentclass[a4paper,10pt]{article}
        \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
        \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
        \usepackage{lmodern}
        \usepackage{array, booktabs}
        \usepackage{siunitx}
        \usepackage{makecell}
        \usepackage{caption}
        \def\ce#1{\ensuremath{\mathrm{#1}}}

        \begin{document}

        \begin{table}[ht]
        \caption{Model Input Information: Materials}
        \centering
        \renewcommand{\theadfont}{\normalsize\bfseries}
        \begin{tabular}{ccc}
        \toprule
        \thead{Available Materials} & \thead{Material Input Parameters} & \thead{Description} \\
        \midrule
            \makecell*{Fused Silica\\ (delta eV = 9)} & alpha & \makecell{Avalanche Coefficient\\{ [\si{\cm\squared\per\joule}]}} \\
            \makecell*{Fused Silica\\ (delta eV = 7.5)} & delta eV & \makecell{Material Band Gap\\{[\si{\electronvolt}]}} \\
            \makecell*{\ce{GaAs}} & me & Effective Electron Mass [\si{\kilogram}]\\
            \makecell*{\ce{ZnSe}} & n0 & Linear Refractive Index \\
            \makecell*{\ce{Ge}} & n2 & Non-Linear Refractive Index \\
            \makecell*{\ce{HfO_2}} & T & Effective Decay Constant [fs] \\
            \makecell*{\ce{TiO_2}} & & \\
            \makecell*{\ce{Ta_2O_5}} & & \\
            \makecell*{\ce{Al_2O_3}} & & \\
            \makecell*{\ce{SiO_2}} & & \\
        \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
        \label{table:MaterialInputs}
        \end{table}

        \end{document} 

N.B.: As I do'nt have the mhchem package installed I redefined the \ce command in order to make it look more like a real chemistry formula.