# How to move the whole block of {align*} to some spaces towards the left?

I use {align*} a lot, it seems that the block of {align*} are automatically centered. How could I shift the block towards the left margin to some spaces? (I.e. not all the way to left, but just some spaces towards left.)

It is different from here.

• It's not really clear why you want this in the first place. Can you explain? – egreg Dec 5 '14 at 22:32
• I need it because after the second text (heading) the use of align* doesn't properly centers the equation or it seems that equation is way too right. That's why I want to shift it a little left of my choice. – kaka Dec 5 '14 at 22:50
• An example would be useful. – egreg Dec 5 '14 at 22:55
• \textbf{Detection Problem} \begin{align*} \mathcal{H}_0: \textbf{y}[n]&=\textbf{w}[n], && n=1, \cdots N,\\ \end{align*} where; \textbf{x}[n] represents primary user signal, \textbf{w}[n] is additive zero-mean. \\~\\ \textbf{For simplicity of notation} \begin{align*} \mathcal{H}_0: \textbf{y}&=\textbf{w}, \hspace*{2.0cm}\\ \mathcal{H}_1: \textbf{y}&=\textbf{x}+\textbf{w}. \end{align*} \\~\\ where; $\textbf{w} \sim \mathcal{N}(\textbf{0}, \sigma^2\textbf{I} )$ \end{frame} – kaka Dec 5 '14 at 23:41

You can add additional space to the right hand side of the equation via \hspace:

## Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{showframe}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}
\noindent
This is centered:
\begin{align*}
a &=b
\end{align*}
Adding a \verb|\hspace{2.0cm}| to right hand side:
\begin{align*}
a &=b \hspace{2.0cm}
\end{align*}
\end{document}

• note that you can also add negative space before the equation instead of adding after, also if there are several lines you need to do it for each line. – YannickSSE Jul 18 '18 at 6:25

mathtools provides \MoveEqLeft[<number>] for this. Put the macro at the end of first line.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}

\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
x &=  x_ot+v_ot+\frac{1}{2}at^2 \\
v &= v_ot+at \\
v^2 &= v_o^2+2a \Delta x
\end{align*}
\begin{align*}
x &=  x_ot+v_ot+\frac{1}{2}at^2 \MoveEqLeft[1]\\
v &= v_ot+at \\
v^2 &= v_o^2+2a \Delta x
\end{align*}
\end{document}


• It's probably better to use \tfrac instead of \frac in the first of the three rows. – Mico Dec 4 '14 at 7:08
• That is a bit misuse of \MoveEqLeft, though I do not understand the OPs intention with the question. – daleif Dec 4 '14 at 8:32