# Table exceeds text width

My table exceeds the text width... I have already tried lots of stuff (ex: tabularx, tabulary and others that I can't remember right now) to try to correct but none of them has solved my problem.

I have a situation like this one:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[colorinlistoftodos]{todonotes}
\usepackage{tabularx}

\author{You}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{abstract}
\end{abstract}

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent ultrices ipsum nec ultricies placerat. Quisque iaculis bibendum nunc, a ultricies magna pellentesque ut. Vivamus iaculis lacinia diam, sed porttitor metus ornare id. Nunc posuere magna at eleifend malesuada. Vestibulum non diam in lacus rutrum condimentum. Nullam fermentum facilisis turpis et tristique. Donec tempor purus nulla, vel ullamcorper augue sagittis sit amet. Integer blandit finibus ex, eget placerat neque mollis non. Mauris ut tempor lectus. Nullam id dolor vel lectus aliquet porta.

\section{Introduction}
Donec euismod feugiat lacus, quis convallis libero lacinia vitae. Morbi in efficitur ante, nec placerat orci. Curabitur nec rutrum neque. Integer mollis purus in dolor vulputate convallis egestas vel erat. Cras condimentum nunc eu urna sagittis pulvinar. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Integer quam ligula, semper sit amet libero vitae, ornare maximus nibh. Quisque vitae interdum purus, in euismod arcu. Aenean at sollicitudin arcu, ac commodo lacus.

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{ccccccccccc}
\hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{PH} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{10 } & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{20 }  & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{30 }  & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{45 }  & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{60 }  \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{W}  & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RMSE} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Adj. $r^2$} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RMSE}  & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Adj. $r^2$} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RMSE}  & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Adj. $r^2$} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RMSE}  & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Adj. $r^2$} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{RMSE}  & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Adj. $r^2$} \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{4} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{7.77} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.92} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{14.23}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.72} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{19.23}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.48} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{24.10}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.18} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{26.61}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.01} \\ \hline
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{7} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{7.79} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.91} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{14.26}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.71} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{19.22}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.47} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{23.99}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.18} & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{26.35}    & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{0.02} \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{My caption}
\label{my-label}
\end{table}

\end{document}


How can I fix this? I would like to shrink it to fit to the margins of the text. Although, if if it becomes too small I would like to have an opinion and an example of how could I display the same information but in other way. An important aspect is that I'll have 33 tables with the same problem. Each table has 18 rows in total instead of the two presented here (it was just an example).

PS: This is not the document class that I'm working with. It was just an example to don't put here tons of code. In my document I have more space but the problem is the same.

• What do you want to fix? Make everything smaller? rotate the table? re-think how you want to present the information? – jon Jun 27 '15 at 1:46
• What have you tried? "Lots of stuff" doesn't help. Do you want it to remain as-is but fit within the text block width? Or do you want to shrink it down to fit? Or do you want to resize it to fit? – Werner Jun 27 '15 at 1:47
• @jon and Werner I already edited the post to answer your questions. – user25847 Jun 27 '15 at 6:47
• In addition to all the other answers concerning Adj. $R^2$: You might consider to write it as following: $R^2_\mathit{Adj.}$. That also saves you some space. – phx Jun 28 '15 at 8:49

booktabs can improve the appearance of the tabular significantly. rotating allows you to present it as a sidewaystable:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{booktabs,rotating}

\begin{document}
\begin{sidewaystable}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{*{11}{c}}
\toprule
PH & \multicolumn{2}{c}{10 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{20}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{30}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{45}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{60}  \\
W  & RMSE & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ \\\midrule
4 & 7.77 & 0.92 & 14.23    & 0.72 & 19.23    & 0.48 & 24.10    & 0.18 & 26.61    & 0.01 \\
7 & 7.79 & 0.91 & 14.26    & 0.71 & 19.22    & 0.47 & 23.99    & 0.18 & 26.35    & 0.02 \\ \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{My caption}
\label{my-label}
\end{sidewaystable}
\end{document}


If you really don't want to rotate it, your only option is to make it smaller. That either means rethinking how you present the data or squishing it. Only you can really do the former, so here's an example of the latter. But remember that your readers will not thank you for this kind of thing!

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering\small\setlength\tabcolsep{.225em}
\begin{tabular}{*{11}{c}}
\toprule
PH & \multicolumn{2}{c}{10 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{20}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{30}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{45}  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{60}  \\
W  & RMSE & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ & RMSE  & Adj. $r^2$ \\\midrule
4 & 7.77 & 0.92 & 14.23    & 0.72 & 19.23    & 0.48 & 24.10    & 0.18 & 26.61    & 0.01 \\
7 & 7.79 & 0.91 & 14.26    & 0.71 & 19.22    & 0.47 & 23.99    & 0.18 & 26.35    & 0.02 \\ \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{My caption}
\label{my-label}
\end{table}
\end{document}


• I think, Adj. is an abbreviation, then the space afterwards is too large. This can be fixed by Adj.\@ $r^2$ or Adj.~$r^2$. Also cheating like Adj.\,$r^2 might be an option to get the table smaller in width. – Heiko Oberdiek Jun 27 '15 at 3:39 • cfr, could you help me on this one? – user25847 Jun 28 '15 at 16:20 • @user25847 You seem to have a nice answer there from Bernard, now. Are you happy with that one? – cfr Jun 28 '15 at 17:48 • There is an error with the code that prevents me of testing Bernard's suggestion so I do not know if it works on my doc. – user25847 Jun 28 '15 at 18:13 Also an option, a different layout of the table columns and rows, e.g.: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{booktabs} \usepackage{siunitx} \begin{document} \begin{tabular}{ S[table-format=2.0] S[table-format=1.0] S[table-format=2.2] S[table-format=1.2] } \toprule {PH} & {W} & {RMSE} & {Adj.\@$r^2$} \\ \midrule 10 & 4 & 7.77 & 0.92 \\ & 7 & 7.79 & 0.91 \\ \addlinespace 20 & 4 & 14.23 & 0.72 \\ & 7 & 14.26 & 0.71 \\ \addlinespace 45 & 4 & 24.10 & 0.18 \\ & 7 & 23.99 & 0.18 \\ \addlinespace 60 & 4 & 26.61 & 0.01 \\ & 7 & 26.35 & 0.02 \\ \bottomrule \end{tabular} \end{document}  • I like this answer most since it emphasizes the option to change the layout of tables instead of just trying to fiddle with font sizes, abbreviations etc. In stats we would call it the "long" vs. the "wide" format. – phx Jun 28 '15 at 8:54 If you're willing to write $\bar{R}^2$ instead of Adj.$r^2$ -- the former notation is much more common in my field, viz., econometrics -- you can shorten the header material sufficiently so that the table will fit in "ordinary", i.e., portrait mode. Like the other two persons giving answers up to now, I also recommend using the rule-drawing macros of the booktabs package. \documentclass[a4paper]{article} \usepackage[english]{babel} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{tabularx,booktabs} \newcolumntype{C}{>{\centering\arraybackslash}X} \title{Your Paper} \author{You} \begin{document} \section{Introduction} \begin{table}[h] \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ @{} l *{10}{C} @{} } \toprule PH & \multicolumn{2}{c}{10 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{20 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{30 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{45 } & \multicolumn{2}{c}{60 } \\ \cmidrule(lr){2-3} \cmidrule(lr){4-5} \cmidrule(lr){6-7} \cmidrule(lr){8-9} \cmidrule(l){10-11} W & \textsc{rmse} &$\bar{R}^2$& \textsc{rmse} &$\bar{R}^2$& \textsc{rmse} &$\bar{R}^2$& \textsc{rmse} &$\bar{R}^2$& \textsc{rmse} &$\bar{R}^2$\\ \midrule 4 & 7.77 & 0.92 & 14.23 & 0.72 & 19.23 & 0.48 & 24.10 & 0.18 & 26.61 & 0.01\\ 7 & 7.79 & 0.91 & 14.26 & 0.71 & 19.22 & 0.47 & 23.99 & 0.18 & 26.35 & 0.02 \\ \bottomrule \end{tabularx} \caption{My caption} \label{my-label} \end{table} \end{document}  • Thanks for the suggestion ... I adopted another notation$R_{adj}^2\$ :) Could you help me on this one? – user25847 Jun 28 '15 at 16:21