# flush align equations to left margin

In the attached MWE:

\documentclass[11pt,fleqn]{book} % Default font size and left-justified equations

\usepackage{etex}
\reserveinserts{28}

\usepackage[svgnames]{xcolor} % Required for specifying colors by name
\definecolor{ocre}{RGB}{243,102,25} % Define the orange color used for highlighting throughout the
\definecolor{mygray}{RGB}{243,243,244}

%========================================================================================
%   Font Settings
%========================================================================================

\usepackage{avant} % Use the Avantgarde font for headings
\usepackage{mathptmx} % Use the Adobe Times Roman as the default text font together with math symbols
\usepackage{microtype} % Slightly tweak font spacing for aesthetics
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % Required for including letters with accents
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % Use 8-bit encoding that has 256 glyphs
\usepackage{calc} % For simpler calculation - used for spacing the index letter headings correctly
\usepackage{textcomp} % Text Companion fonts which provide many text symbols in the TS1 encoding.

%========================================================================================
%   Math Formulas
%========================================================================================

\usepackage{empheq}
\usepackage[font={color=ocre,bf},figurename=Fig.,labelfont={it}]{caption}
\usepackage[framemethod=default]{mdframed}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage[most]{tcolorbox}
\tcbset{myformula/.style={
arc=0pt,
outer arc=0pt,
%colback=ocre!10,
colback=mygray,
colframe=ocre,
boxrule=0.8pt,
left=2pt,
right=2pt,
highlight math style={
arc=0pt,
outer arc=0pt,
colback=mygray,
colframe=red.
}
}
}

}{%
\ignorespacesafterend
}

\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}
\noindent
This is just some text to show the text lines before the align environment.
\begin{flalign*}
&T1~&-~& \mbox{This is an explanation of equaion 1} \\
&T2~&-~& \mbox{This is the explanation of another equ} \\
&T2T3~&-~& \dfrac{Test}{Test2}
\end{flalign*}

\begin{tabular}{lll}
T1 & - & This is an explanation of equaion 1 \\
T2 & - & This is the explanation of another equ \\
T2T3 & - & $\dfrac{Test}{Test2}$ \\
\end{tabular}

\end{document}


How do I go about getting alignments to the three points as shown but without all that white space:

Added the tabular environment, but how now to flush the table against the left margin?

• one way to force the text at (3) farther to the left is to add space to the longest line at the right. for example, &T2~&-~& \mbox{This is the explanation of another equ} \kern1.5in \. this is definitely a hack, but since the meaning of the fl in flalign is "full line" (not "flush left", as is commonly supposed), the default formatting pushes the right-hand side as far right as possible, so that's what you're trying to counteract. – barbara beeton Jul 13 '15 at 20:49
• @Joe, do you like that between (blue) line 2 and 3 is not white space, i.e. that they are on the same position (overlap)? Why then don't use tabular environment instead of flalign? – Zarko Jul 13 '15 at 21:24
• @Zarko, good idea! I have edited my original code to include the tabular environment, however, how do I now flush the table to the left margin? – Joe Jul 13 '15 at 21:30

If I understand correctly, you like to obtain something like this:

This I got above picture with:

\documentclass[11pt,fleqn,border=2mm,preview]{standalone}
\usepackage{mathptmx}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage{empheq,tabularx}
\begin{document}
\noindent
This is just some text to show the text lines before the align environment.
\begin{center}
\begin{tabularx}{\hsize}{@{}>{$}l<{$} >{$-$\ }X @{}}
T1      &   This is an explanation of equation 1        \\
T       &   This is the explanation of another equation \\
T2T3    &   $\dfrac{Test}{Test2}$
\end{tabularx}
\end{center}
\end{document}