Aligning multiple places in equations using align

Question

My question is simple. I've played around with the & symbol to align my equations neatly under each other, but I just can't get it to look nice. This is the closest I've got:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\begin{document}
\begin{align}
A_{0} & = -\frac{3\sigma_{1}' h H L^{2}}{E (H+h)^{3}} &=& -1.62\times 10^{-6}\,\mathrm{m} \\
B_{0} & = - \frac{3 h H (\alpha_{2}-\alpha_{1}) L^{2}}{(H+h)^{3}} &=&  2.95\times 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{m\,K^{-1}} \\
C_{0} & = \frac{4 L^{3}}{E W (H+h)^{3}} &=& 1.08\,\mathrm{m\,N^{-1}}
\end{align}
\end{document}

which produces the following output:

How can I remove the horizontal space in the middle yet still align the equal signs under each other? It should be the middle equation that dictates the spaces, i.e. the other two equations need to align to that one.

As a final question I could ask: How would you do it to make it 'look nice'?

And yes, I have looked at the other similar questions without luck.

Answer 1

Two solutions with alignat; one of them has two alignment points, the other, three, so that the numeric values are aligned on the integer part of the mantissa:

 \documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}

\begin{alignat}{3}
A_{0} & = -\frac{3σ_{1}' h H L²}{E (H+h)³} &&= - & & 1.62 × 10⁻⁶\,\mathrm{m} \\
B_{0} & = - \frac{3 h H (α_{2}-α_{1}) L²}{(H+h)³} &&= & & 2.95 × 10⁻⁸\,\mathrm{m\,K⁻¹} \\
C_{0} & = \frac{4 L³}{E W (H+h)³} &&= & & 1.08\,\mathrm{m\,N⁻¹}
\end{alignat}

\begin{alignat}{2}
A_{0} & = -\frac{3σ_{1}' h H L²}{E (H+h)³} &&= - 1.62 × 10⁻⁶\,\mathrm{m} \\
B_{0} & = - \frac{3 h H (α_{2}-α_{1}) L²}{(H+h)³} &&= 2.95 × 10⁻⁸\,\mathrm{m\,K⁻¹} \\
C_{0} & = \frac{4 L³}{E W (H+h)³} &&= 1.08\,\mathrm{m\,N⁻¹}
\end{alignat}

\end{document} 

Answer 2

What you need is alignat:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\begin{document}
\begin{alignat}{2}
A_{0} & = -\frac{3\sigma_{1}' h H L^{2}}{E (H+h)^{3}} &{}={}& -1.62\times 10^{-6}\,\mathrm{m} \\
B_{0} & = - \frac{3 h H (\alpha_{2}-\alpha_{1}) L^{2}}{(H+h)^{3}} &{}={}&  2.95\times 10^{-8}\,\mathrm{m\,K^{-1}} \\
C_{0} & = \frac{4 L^{3}}{E W (H+h)^{3}} &{}={}& 1.08\,\mathrm{m\,N^{-1}}
\end{alignat}
\end{document}

\begin{alignat}{2} aligns at two points (two equation columns) and you have to use three &s. To get the proper spacing around = in the second column use {}={}

Answer 3

You have to use the alignat environment. Also, use siunitx for the physical quantities.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}

\begin{alignat}{2}
  A_{0}
  &= -\frac{3\sigma_{1}'hHL^{2}}{E(H+h)^{3}}
  &&= \SI{-1.62e-6}{\m} \\
  B_{0}
  &= - \frac{3hH(\alpha_{2}-\alpha_{1})L^{2}}{(H+h)^{3}}
  &&= \SI{2.95e-8}{\m\per\K} \\
  C_{0}
  &= \frac{4L^{3}}{EW(H+h)^{3}}
  &&= \SI{1.08}{\m\per\N}
\end{alignat}

\end{document}

Update

Inspired by Barnard's answer, here is a way in case you also want to align the units:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}

\begin{alignat}{4}
  A_{0}
  &= -\frac{3\sigma_{1}'hHL^{2}}{E(H+h)^{3}}
  &&={}& -1.62 &\times 10^{-6} && \,\si{\m} \\
  B_{0}
  &= - \frac{3hH(\alpha_{2}-\alpha_{1})L^{2}}{(H+h)^{3}}
  &&={}& 2.95 &\times 10^{-8} && \,\si{\m\per\K} \\
  C_{0}
  &= \frac{4L^{3}}{EW(H+h)^{3}}
  &&={}& 1.08 & && \,\si{\m\per\N}
\end{alignat}

\end{document}

Answer 4

In case that you want the formulas to stick to the second equality sign, you can try this.

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{siunitx}

\begin{document}

\begin{alignat}{3}
A_{0}  =&& -\frac{3σ_{1}' h H L²}{E (H+h)³} &= - && 1.62 × 10⁻⁶\,\mathrm{m} \\
B_{0}  =&& - \frac{3 h H (α_{2}-α_{1}) L²}{(H+h)³} &= && 2.95 × 10⁻⁸\,\mathrm{m\,K⁻¹} \\
C_{0}  =&& \frac{4 L³}{E W (H+h)³} &= && 1.08\,\mathrm{m\,N⁻¹}
\end{alignat}

\end{document}

and the result is shown below.