# Reduce white space before and after multicols environment

I wonder how to reduce the vertical space before and after a multicols environment. I have something like below

\begin{multicols}{3}
{
$$\sum F_x = 0$$
$$\frac{dP}{dx} - p = 0$$
}
{
$$\sum F_y = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
}
{
$$\sum M = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
}
\end{multicols}

But there is extra white space before and after the multicols environment. How can I reduce it?

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– Werner
Dec 11 '11 at 3:19
• I used \vspace{-0.5cm}. Dec 21 '17 at 1:45

## 2 Answers

While I wouldn't recommend it normally, you can also fiddle with the \multicolsep length.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\setlength{\multicolsep}{6.0pt plus 2.0pt minus 1.5pt}% 50% of original values
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{multicols}{3}
\noindent
$$\sum F_x = 0$$
$$\frac{dP}{dx} - p = 0$$
$$\sum F_y = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
$$\sum M = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
\end{multicols}
\lipsum[1]
\end{document}

I would consider some of the other ways to do alignment, but if you want to use multicol, you need to add \noindent:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]
\begin{multicols}{3}
\noindent
$$\sum F_x = 0$$
$$\frac{dP}{dx} - p = 0$$
$$\sum F_y = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
$$\sum M = 0$$
$$$$\frac{dQ}{dx} + q = 0$$$$
\end{multicols}
\lipsum[1]
\end{document}