Space between caption and table in TeX

Question

I have this code

\begin{table}[h]
\caption{Numerical example geometry}
\label{tab_numerical_geo}
\begin{center}
\scalebox{0.9}{
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|}
\hline
$d^A$  & $d^B$  & $d^C$  & $l^A_{12}$ & $l^C_{12}$ & $h^A$ & $h^C$ \\
\hline
-0.4434 & 0.3455 & 0.7798 & 0.1023 & 0.1523 & 0.04 & 0.023 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
}
\end{center}
\end{table}

I'm using \scalebox to reduce the size of the table, but it shrinks the space between the caption and the table. Without using it, there is a space, which is nice for my article.

Does anyone know how to reduce the size of the table while keeping that space? I've tried with \footnotesize instead of \reducebox, but the result was the same. Thanks!

Answer 1

Some suggestions:

• To create a bit more spacing between the caption and the tabular material, load the caption package and specify the desired value for the option skip; in the example below, I set skip=0.5\baselineskip.

• Don't use a center environment inside a table; instead, use the \centering macro.

• Since the material in the data row can, apparently, contain negative numbers, use an array environment instead of a tabular environment. Doing so will free you from having to type lots of $ symbols in the header row.

• If you must use a smaller font size, don't use \scalebox, as doing so will create very "spindly-looking" output. Instead, use \small (for a 10% linear reduction of the font size) or \footnotesize (for a 20% linear reduction).

• For better spacing in the header and data rows, insert typographic struts.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[skip=0.5\baselineskip]{caption}
%% define a few struts
%% (from code by Claudio Beccari in TeX and TUG News, Vol. 2, 1993)
\newcommand\Tstrut{\rule{0pt}{2.9ex}}         % "top" strut
\newcommand\Bstrut{\rule[-1.2ex]{0pt}{0pt}}   % "bottom" strut
\newcommand\TBstrut{\Tstrut\Bstrut}           % "top and bottom" strut

\begin{document}

\begin{table}
\caption{Numerical example geometry}
\label{tab_numerical_geo}
\small % better than \scalebox{0.9}{...}
\centering
$\begin{array}{|*{7}{c|}}
\hline
d^A\TBstrut & d^B  & d^C  & l^{A}_{12} & l^C_{12} & h^A & h^C \\
\hline
-0.4434\TBstrut & 0.3455 & 0.7798 & 0.1023 & 0.1523 & 0.04 & 0.023 \\
\hline
\end{array}$
\end{table}
\end{document}

Answer 2

Try to add \bigskip after the caption. It will add a blank line which will create a desired space.

\documentclass{article} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[h]
\caption{Numerical example geometry}
\bigskip
\label{tab_numerical_geo}
\begin{center}
\scalebox{0.9}{
...

Answer 3

Use package caption and \resizebox:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{caption}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\begin{document}
    \blindtext
    \begin{table}[!htb]
    \caption{Numerical example geometry\strut}\label{tab_numerical_geo}
    \centering
    \resizebox{\linewidth}{!}{%
    \begin{tabular}{@{}ccccccc@{}}\toprule
    $d^A$  & $d^B$  & $d^C$  & $l^A_{12}$ & $l^C_{12}$ & $h^A$ & $h^C$ \\   \midrule
    $-0.4434$ & 0.3455 & 0.7798 & 0.1023 & 0.1523 & 0.04 & 0.023 \\\bottomrule
    \end{tabular}}
    \end{table}

    \blindtext
\end{document}

Answer 4

Came with the same issue, I tried the \vspace{5mm} option. Worked easily well for me.

Answer 5

Some suggestions for typesetting the table are below. Without knowing your constraints it's difficult to be more concrete. To make sure the caption isn't getting too close to the top of the table, I've used a \strut at the end of the caption.

    \documentclass{article}
    \usepackage{booktabs}
    \begin{document}
    \begin{table}
        \caption{Numerical example geometry\strut}
        \label{tab_numerical_geo}
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{@{}ccccccc@{}}
        \toprule
        $d^A$  & $d^B$  & $d^C$  & $l^A_{12}$ & $l^C_{12}$ & $h^A$ & $h^C$ \\
        \midrule
        $-0.4434$ & 0.3455 & 0.7798 & 0.1023 & 0.1523 & 0.04 & 0.023 \\
        \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
    \end{table}

    \begin{table}
        \caption{Numerical example geometry\strut}
        \label{tab_numerical_geo2}
        \catcode`!=\active
        \def!{\phantom0}
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{@{}lr@{}}
        \toprule
        $d^A$       &$-0.4434$ \\
        $d^B$       &0.3455  \\  
        $d^C$       &0.7798  \\
        $l^A_{12}$  &0.1023  \\     
        $l^C_{12}$  &0.1523  \\  
        $h^A$       &0.04!!  \\
        $h^C$       &0.023!  \\
        \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
    \end{table}
    \begin{table}
        \caption{Numerical example geometry\strut}
        \label{tab_numerical_geo3}
        \catcode`!=\active
        \def!{\phantom0}
        \centering
        \begin{tabular}{@{}lr@{\qquad}lr@{}}
        \toprule
        $d^A$       &$-0.4434$ &
        $d^B$       &0.3455  \\  
        $d^C$       &0.7798   & 
        $l^A_{12}$  &0.1023  \\     
        $l^C_{12}$  &0.1523   & 
        $h^A$       &0.04!!  \\
        $h^C$       &0.023!  \\
        \bottomrule
        \end{tabular}
    \end{table}

    \end{document}

Answer 6

In lack of information, why you actually use \scalebox, I assume, that your document (i) has two columns, and that (ii) you will be willing to use mdwtab packages which enables to design nice tables ...

With this my assumptions the MWE below generate:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
    \usepackage{caption}
    \usepackage{mdwtab}

    \usepackage[showframe]{geometry}
    \usepackage{lipsum}   

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{table}[h]
    \footnotesize
    \setlength{\tabcolsep}{3.5pt}
\caption{Numerical example geometry}
\label{tab_numerical_geo}
\centering
\begin{tabular}{|*{7}{Mc|}}
\hlx{hvv}
d^A  & d^B  & d^C  & l^A_{12} & l^C_{12} & h^A & h^C \\
\hlx{vhv}
-0.4434 & 0.3455 & 0.7798 & 0.1023 & 0.1523 & 0.04 & 0.023 \\
\hlx{vh}
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\lipsum[2-5]
\end{document}

option showframe in geometry package is used only to show page layout. In real-life, it had to be omitted.

Addendum: If you don't like to use mdwtab you can stick with classic tabular elements: replace hlx{...} with hline and column type Ml with >{$}c<{$}. For this column type you had to load package array. Of course, obtained table (to my taste) is not so beautiful.

Regarding caption: if you use package caption, you will obtain better spacing between caption and table without any manual adjustment.

Answer 7

You can put \begin{center} your table spec \end{center} after your caption in the \begin{table}.