# Optimize print area of the pdf file generated from Latex

I am using document class extarticle for making quizzes, assignments, etc for my class. In the pdf output file, a lot of space remains unused. This results in extra consumption of paper. How we can make the pdf output more compact to avoid paper wastage.

I will really appreciate any help on this.

Shah

A minimal example is given below. The pdf output consists of two pages but the contents are very brief and they should easily fit on single page or even less than this. Reducing the font size is one trick which helps but if I don't want to reduce the font, is there any other way to optimize print area?

\documentclass[a4, 14pt]{extarticle}

\usepackage{extsizes}

\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,bm}

\begin{document}

{{\begin{center} \Large{ Calculus II (MAT-1205)} \end{center}} {{\begin{center}  Sequences and Series  \end{center}} {{\begin{center}  \bf{Quiz $\# 3$ (5\% Weightage) }\end{center}}
\noindent
\begin{tabular}{@{}p{3in}p{2.5in}}
{\bf{Name: \line(1,0){130}  }} \hspace{0.5cm} & {\bf{Roll No. \line(1,0){80}  }} \\ & \\
{\bf {Summer 2014}} \hspace{0.5cm} & Thursday, Sep 19, 2014 \\ & \\
{\bf{Duration:}} 25 Minutes \hspace{0.5cm} & {\bf{Maximum Points: }} 20 \\
\hline \hline
\end{tabular}

\vspace{2cm}

\noindent
{\bf{Important Note:}} Show all the details of your solutions. Failing to do so may result in deduction of marks.  \\

\noindent
{\bf{Question 1}} \\

\noindent
Determine if the following infinite sequences converge or diverge. If the sequence converges, determine its limit. \\

\noindent
(i) $$\left\{\frac{3n^{2}-1}{10n+5n^{2}}\right\}_{n=2}^{\infty} \nonumber$$

\noindent
(ii) %\begin{align}
$\left\{\frac{(-1)^{n}}{n}\right\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ %\begin{flushright} {\bf{10 points}} \end{flushright} \noindent {\bf{Question 2}} \\ % \noindent Express the repeating decimal 5.232323... as the ratio of two integers. \begin{flushright} {\bf{10 points}} \end{flushright} \end{document} • There is always savetrees but I wouldn't recommend it if you are distributing the results unless your department is charging you personally for the paper ;). – cfr Nov 9 '14 at 3:47 • It probably wouldn’t work for your sample exam, but when preparing texts for students, I often use two columns in landscape, so that I can use a larger area of the paper without having lines that are too long for the comfort of the human eye. – Thérèse Nov 9 '14 at 4:05 ## 2 Answers 1. Don't use \begin{center}. Use \centering instead within a group 2. \bf{text} is wrong. Use \textbf{text} or {\bfseries text} 3. Same holds true for \Large{text}, it should be {\Large text} Having said that, you can reduce the default margins using geometry package. \documentclass[a4paper, 14pt]{extarticle} \usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry} %\usepackage{extsizes} % not need with this class \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,bm} \begin{document} {\centering {\Large Calculus II (MAT-1205)} \medskip Sequences and Series \medskip \bfseries Quiz \# 3 (5\% Weightage) \par} \bigskip \noindent \begin{tabular}{@{}p{3in}p{2.5in}} {\textbf{Name: \line(1,0){130} }} \hspace{0.5cm} & {\textbf{Roll No. \line(1,0){80} }} \\ & \\ {\textbf {Summer 2014}} \hspace{0.5cm} & Thursday, Sep 19, 2014 \\ & \\ {\textbf{Duration:}} 25 Minutes \hspace{0.5cm} & {\textbf{Maximum Points: }} 20 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \vspace{1cm} \noindent {\textbf{Important Note:}} Show all the details of your solutions. Failing to do so may result in deduction of marks. \\ \noindent {\textbf{Question 1}} \\ \noindent Determine if the following infinite sequences converge or diverge. If the sequence converges, determine its limit. \\ \noindent (i) $$\left\{\frac{3n^{2}-1}{10n+5n^{2}}\right\}_{n=2}^{∞} \nonumber$$ \noindent (ii) %\begin{align} $\left\{\frac{(-1)ⁿ}{n}\right\}_{n=1}^{∞}$ %

\begin{flushright} {\bf{10 points}} \end{flushright}

\noindent
{\textbf{Question 2}} \\ %

\noindent
Express the repeating decimal $5.232323...$ as the ratio of two integers.

\begin{flushright} {\textbf{10 points}} \end{flushright}

\end{document}

• You can better use a proper class like exam or exsheets or probsoln and then use \usepackage{extsizes} for font sizes. – user11232 Nov 9 '14 at 3:42
• Kids now know one of the questions in question paper. Hurrah! – Vaibhav Nov 9 '14 at 6:16

There are ofcourse some great packages for quizes, but you can create your own style. Here I've set the paper in to columns, as an A4-page is not really wellsuited for printing wide lines, and to use the space effectively, more columns are nessasary.

I've also created a few macros for ease of use, and for better consistancy. Now, you just use \Question{points}{question} instead of lots of formatting and redundant code. I've also used no parskip-package to remove indentation, as tou clearly don't want this here.

The maximum points and total numbers available are now automaticly calculated and put in the headertable.

The output of numbering for equation have been changed, so that it uses roman numbering instead, as you intended. You don't need to add it manually.

### Code

\documentclass[a4paper, 14pt,twocolumn]{extarticle}

\usepackage[
margin=1cm,
includefoot,
footskip=20pt
]{geometry}
\usepackage{parskip}% To remove indent on paragraphs for whole document
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{bm}
\usepackage{totcount}% To display the total number of points for this quiz.
\usepackage{tabularx}

\newtotcounter{points}
\newcommand{\Points}[1]{%
\addtocounter{points}{#1}% Store how many points we have in total
\par\hfill{\bfseries#1 points}\par%
}
\newtotcounter{question}
\newcommand{\QuestionTitle}{%
\par\bigskip%
\stepcounter{question}%
{\bfseries Question \thequestion}
\medskip%
}

\newcommand{\Question}[2]{%
\QuestionTitle

#2

\Points{#1}
}
\renewcommand{\theequation}{\roman{equation}}

\begin{document}
\makeatletter
\twocolumn[
\begin{@twocolumnfalse}%{\textwidth}
{\centering
{\Large Calculus II (MAT-1205)}

\medskip
Sequences and Series

\medskip
\bfseries Quiz $\# 3$ (5\% Weightage)
\par}

\bigskip
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}% A factor for extra space between lines
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{\hspace{2cm}}lXl@{\hspace{2cm}}}
\textbf{Name: \line(1,0){130}} && {\textbf{Roll No. \line(1,0){80}  }} \\
\textbf{Summer 2014} && Thursday, Sep 19, 2014 \\
\textbf{Duration:} \textbf{25} Minutes \hspace{0.5cm} && \textbf{\total{points}} points, with \textbf{\total{question}} questions. \\
\hline \hline
\end{tabularx}
\vspace{.5cm}
\end{@twocolumnfalse}
]
\makeatother

\framebox[\columnwidth]{\parbox{.9\columnwidth}{{\textbf{Important Note:}} Show all the details of your solutions. Failing to do so may result in deduction of marks.}}

\Question{10}{%

Determine if the following infinite sequences converge or diverge. If the sequence converges, determine its limit.

$$\left\{ \frac{ 3n^{2}-1 }{ 10n + 5n^{2} } \right\}_{ n=2 }^{ \infty }$$
$$\left\{ \frac{ (-1) ?}{ n } \right\}_{ n=1 }^{ \infty }$$
}

\Question{10}{%

Express the repeating decimal $$5.232323\ldots$$ as the ratio of two integers.
}

\Question{20}{What is the meaning of life?}
\Question{25}{How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?}
\vfill\eject% Manulal columnbreak. For \multicols, you could use \columnbreak
\Question{50}{How many ducks are there on \texttt{tex.stackexchange.com}?}
\Question{5}{Does a duck produce an echo?}
\Question{10}{Are tigers better than ducks?}
\Question{15}{What about donkeys?}

\end{document}