How to left align the equation

Question

I am using below equation in my document. By default, it is getting aligned at the center. I want to left-align the equation -- only this equation, not all equations in the document. Can anybody tell me how it can be done?

\begin{equation}
d_j =
  \begin{cases}
    newval_i,  & \quad i = j\\
    randval_k, & \quad k = j\\
    bestval_j, & \quad \text{otherwise}
  \end{cases}
\end{equation}

Answer 1

You can do that nesting your equations in a fleqn environment (from nccmath). This environment accepts an optional argument for the distance from the left margin ( 0 pt by default):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{mathtools, nccmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{equation}
d_j =
  \begin{cases}
    \text{newval}_i, & \quad i = j\\
    \text{randval}_k, & \quad k = j\\
    \text{bestval}_j, & \quad \text{otherwise}
  \end{cases}
\end{equation}

\begin{fleqn}
\noindent\texttt{With fleqn: }
\begin{equation}
d_j =
  \begin{cases}
    \text{newval}_i, & \quad i = j\\
    \text{randval}_k, & \quad k = j\\
    \text{bestval}_j, & \quad \text{otherwise}
  \end{cases}
\end{equation}
\end{fleqn}

\begin{fleqn}[3em]
\noindent\texttt{With fleqn and optional argument [3em]: }
\begin{equation}
d_j =
  \begin{cases}
    \text{newval}_i, & \quad i = j\\
    \text{randval}_k, & \quad k = j\\
    \text{bestval}_j, & \quad \text{otherwise}
  \end{cases}
\end{equation}
\end{fleqn}

    \end{document}