# Distributing three parts of a page evenly, vertically

I have a page that has three big "sections," two items (in enumerate), and a note at the bottom of the page. Is there a way to get them to distribute evenly on the page without having to use all the newlines? I can't seem to find anything on the topic. \desymbol is a predefined macro. Source file is as follows:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand\desymbol{? }
\begin{document}

\section*{Phase 3}
\begin{enumerate}
\item[1.]
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{sin}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\item[2.]
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{ln}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\\
\end{enumerate}

\hrule\hspace{1mm}\\
\small{This lesson was adapted from a handout by Irena Swanson's MATH111 class at Reed College. The problems are partly my own creation, from her handout, and from D. A. Kouba at University of California, Davis.}

\end{document}

• Welcome to TeX.SE. How might the macro \desymbol be defined? – Mico Jan 12 '17 at 3:12
• Welcome! Please edit your question so that we can compile your example. Preferably, we should be able to copy-paste-compile your code to reproduce the issue. You should basically never use \\  in the body of a document outside special environments such as tabular and array. Don't you get lots of complaints about bad boxes with this code? Try \vfill instead. – cfr Jan 12 '17 at 3:12
• Just as a standing for the delta and epsilon symbols, so i dont have to type $\delta$ - \$... over and over again. – Ely Eastman Jan 12 '17 at 3:14
• @cfr the question is asking what command might replace the \\ and how to use it. – Ely Eastman Jan 12 '17 at 3:14
• Yes, I know. But your code won't compile as is. We had to add stuff to make it work, including either a dummy definition of the custom symbol or a replacement. – cfr Jan 12 '17 at 3:29

I suggest you use \vspace{\fill} instead of the battery of \\ directives.

Please note that \small is not a macro that takes an argument. If you want to limit the scope of this directive, write {\small ...}, not \small{...}.

I would also place \end{enumerate} directive before, not after, the second \vspace{\fill} directive.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath} % for 'equation*' environment
\newcommand\desymbol{xxx} %??
\begin{document}

\section*{Phase 3}
\begin{enumerate}
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol\ proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{sin}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\vspace{\fill}
\item[2.]
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol\ proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{ln}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\end{enumerate}
\vspace{\fill}

\hrule
\smallskip\noindent%
{\small This lesson was adapted from a handout by Irena Swanson's MATH111 class at Reed College. The problems are partly my own creation, from her handout, and from D. A. Kouba at University of California, Davis.\par}

\end{document}

• I'll happily vote for this if you change it to use enumerate properly ;). – cfr Jan 12 '17 at 3:28
• @cfr - Done! :-) I've also inserted a suggestion to change the order of the \end{enumerate} and the second \vspace directive. – Mico Jan 12 '17 at 3:35
• Incidentally, I suggest using \vspace{\fill} rather than \vfill purely because the former is a LaTeX macro whereas the latter is a TeX "primitive". For more on the difference between \vspace{\fill} and \vfill, see What is the difference between \vspace{\fill} and \vfill? – Mico Jan 12 '17 at 3:43

Something like this?

Note that the point of enumerate is that it numbers the items automatically. You don't need to specify them and it is better by far not to in case you want to change the order or add items in the middle later.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\begin{document}
\section*{Phase 3}
\begin{enumerate}
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \maltese{} proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{sin}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\vfill
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \maltese{} proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{ln}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\vfill
\end{enumerate}

\hrule\hspace{1mm}

\noindent\small{This lesson was adapted from a handout by Irena Swanson's MATH111 class at Reed College. The problems are partly my own creation, from her handout, and from D. A. Kouba at University of California, Davis.}

\end{document}


However, that is probably not the best way to typeset the acknowledgement.

If the acknowledgement applies just to this section, I'd suggest a footnote:

\section*{Phase 3\footnote{...}}


If the acknowledgement applies the the whole document, I'd suggest using \thanks instead.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\title{Phase 3\thanks{%
This lesson was adapted from a handout by Irena Swanson's MATH111 class at Reed College.
The problems are partly my own creation, from her handout, and from D. A. Kouba at University of California, Davis.}%
}
\date{}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{enumerate}
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \maltese{} proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{sin}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\vfill
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \maltese{} proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\text{ln}(x)) =
\end{equation*}
\vfill
\end{enumerate}

\end{document}


You should never use \\ at the start, end or between paragraphs, each one in the original version generates

Underfull \hbox (badness 10000) in paragraph at lines 33--50


10000 is the maximum badness that TeX ever assigns, so this usage (and the resulting output) is (according to TeX's built in checks) as bad as it gets....

Also \text{sin} has the wrong spacing and, depending on the context outside the math, may use the wrong font, use \sin

also you should avoid \item[1.] it is almost always better to let latex number things.

\small does not take an argument so it should be \small ... not \small{...} (or just use \footnote which will add the rule, change the font, and position the text at the bottom automatically)

I would simplify the markup to

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{enumitem}
\newcommand\desymbol{? }
\begin{document}

\section*{Phase 3\footnote{%
This lesson was adapted from a handout by Irena Swanson's MATH111 class at Reed College. The problems are partly my own creation, from her handout, and from D. A. Kouba at University of California, Davis.}}

\begin{enumerate}[label={[\arabic*.]},
topsep=\textheight minus\textheight,
itemsep=\textheight minus\textheight
]
\item
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\sin(x)) =
\end{equation*}

\item
Find the limit and prove using the \desymbol proof.
\begin{equation*}
\lim_{x\to a}(\ln(x)) =
\end{equation*}

\end{enumerate}

\end{document}