# Align environment with blank left side in the first line

Is it possible to use the align environment (or something similar) to typeset something like the following (nonesense) example with correct spacing?

  |a - c|
< |a - b| + |b - c|


What I want: The first line should be aligned to everything in the second (and consecutive lines) right from the <. I tried things like

\begin{align*}
&  |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}


or

\begin{align*}
&  |a - c|\\
< & |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}


but in the first example, the first line isn't aligned, and in the second example, the < is too close to the first | in the second line.

Using something like \phantom{<} in the first line, i.e.

\begin{align*}
& \phantom{<} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}


didn't align the first line correctly, either. I'm probably overlooking a really obvious solution here, but I can't think of one myself and don't really know what to search for.

EDIT:

MWE:

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
& |a-c| \\
& < |a-b| + |b-c|
\end{align*}

\begin{align*}
& |a-c| \\
< & |a-b| + |b-c|
\end{align*}

\begin{align*}
& \phantom{<} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}

What I want:

\begin{align*}
& \phantom{ {}<{}} |a - c|\\
& < |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}
\end{document}


The indicated align* is what I want (i.e. the last one), which is cmhughes' solution. Is there a way to do this without the \phantom (meaning a more flexible solution), or do you have to do it like this?

• Try to put the \phantom{<} in the first column in both lines. If you provide a MWE to immediately test, you trigger peoples »Want To See This« button, and you get an answer much faster. – Johannes_B Sep 8 '14 at 16:57
• < is a binary operator - try \phantom{ {}<{}} in your second experiment; it might get you closer :) – cmhughes Sep 8 '14 at 16:59
• Thanks cmhughes, that's the behaviour I want, but I'd like a less "manual" solution (so no manual control of the spaces, if possible) which works for other operators than <, as well. – Lustique Sep 8 '14 at 17:20

if the space you want after the < is the same as you'd get if everything were on one line, then simply putting {} between the < and the & is sufficient:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
&  |a - c| \\
<{} &  |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}

$|a - c| < |a - b| + |b - c|$

\end{document}


• Could you briefly explain why a simple {} solved my problem? Isn't < the same as <{}? In a normal math environment the behaviour seems to be the same, at least considering spacing. – Lustique Sep 8 '14 at 17:29
• in order to get the "correct" spacing, the operator needs to be followed directly by another printable (or parseable) element. when it's separated from that element by '&', the necessary connection can no longer be made. the {} restores the condition. that's why amsmath documentation insists that the & must precede the operator. (of course, if you know what you're doing, you can ignore the instructions, because you know how to compensate.) – barbara beeton Sep 8 '14 at 17:34
• So a use of align like in my example just isn't intended? I thought something like what I wanted to do would be quite useful, or is this considered to be bad mathematical typesetting? (I, of course, wanted to use the above construction for longer and more complicated estimations, so I actually need more than one line) – Lustique Sep 8 '14 at 17:53
• well, it's certainly not how align is usually applied (or originally conceived), but if there is a good mathematical reason for the "anomalous" usage, then i can't see any reason why you shouldn't apply it. – barbara beeton Sep 8 '14 at 18:04

You can write code as shown below

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
&  |a - c|\\
< \quad  &  |a - b| + |b - c|
\end{align*}


\end{document}

Here's two ways using an alternative approach... TABstacks.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabstackengine}
\stackMath
\begin{document}
$\setstackgap{S}{5pt} \tabbedShortstack[l]{ & |a - c|\\ < & |a - b| + |b - c| }$
or
\renewcommand\stackalignment{l} \tabbedstackunder[5pt]{& |a - c|}{< & |a - b| + |b - c| }
\end{document}