# How do I align a simple list on the left?

I have this sample (reduced from the document I started with):

\documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\begin{document}
And then the first several terms of $v$ are
\begin{align*}
v_0, \\
{\lambda v_0 + B}, \\
{\lambda^2 v_0 + 2 \lambda B + \lambda A}, \\
{\lambda^3 v_0 + 3 \lambda^2 B + 3 \lambda^2 A}, \\
{\lambda^4 v_0 + 4 \lambda^3 B + 6 \lambda^3 A}, \\
{\lambda^5 v_0 + 5 \lambda^4 B + 10 \lambda^4 A}, \\
\ldots
\end{align*}
\end{document}


This runs through LaTeX without error, but does the wrong thing; it aligns all the commas instead of aligning to the left. I don't want that. I want these terms lined up so that they have a common left edge.

When I try to say "align to the left" by replacing the fourth line with \begin[l]{align*}, I get an error that I don't know how to interpret:

! Misplaced \cr.
\math@cr@@@ ->\cr

l.12 \end{align*}


The question on this site What does Misplaced \cr in latex error mean seems like it ought to help, but I can't interpret what the answer means for my example.

• You put no &, so all your lines are considered to be on the left side of the alignment (hence right-aligned), and there's an implicit & at the end of each line. Simply put one at the beginning of each line. – Bernard Jul 8 '17 at 12:10
• But why do I get an error once I add an [l] and not without it? – Daniel Martin Jul 8 '17 at 12:12
• Where do you put [l]? As an optional argument of align? – Bernard Jul 8 '17 at 12:14
• I think so? As I said in my question, I replace \begin{align*} with \begin[l]{align*}. – Daniel Martin Jul 8 '17 at 12:25
• It can't work. There's no such syntax. The alignment points are marked with &. See my other comment under berkus'answer. – Bernard Jul 8 '17 at 12:27

You may place your equations in an array environment with left alignment:

    \documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\begin{document}
And then the first several terms of $v$ are
$\begin{array}{l} v_0, \\ \lambda v_0 + B, \\ \lambda^2 v_0 + 2 \lambda B + \lambda A, \\ \lambda^3 v_0 + 3 \lambda^2 B + 3 \lambda^2 A, \\ \lambda^4 v_0 + 4 \lambda^3 B + 6 \lambda^3 A, \\ \lambda^5 v_0 + 5 \lambda^4 B + 10 \lambda^4 A, \\ \end{array}$
\end{document}


Edit No 1:

Or you can use an align* environment, with alignment markers at the beginning of each line:

    \documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\begin{document}
And then the first several terms of $v$ are
\begin{align*}
&          v_0, \\
&\lambda   v_0 + B, \\
&\lambda^2 v_0 + 2 \lambda   B +    \lambda   A, \\
&\lambda^3 v_0 + 3 \lambda^2 B + 3  \lambda^2 A, \\
&\lambda^4 v_0 + 4 \lambda^3 B + 6  \lambda^3 A, \\
&\lambda^5 v_0 + 5 \lambda^4 B + 10 \lambda^4 A, \\
\end{align*}
\end{document}


Edit No 2:

The equations are aligned at &. To demonstrate:

\documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\begin{document}
And then the first several terms of $v$ are
\begin{align*}
&v_0,                                             & \textrm{Aligns here}\\
&{\lambda v_0 + B},                               & \textrm{Aligns here}\\
&{\lambda^2 v_0 + 2 \lambda B + \lambda A},       & \text{Aligns}\\
&{\lambda^3 v_0 + 3 \lambda^2 B + 3 \lambda^2 A}, & \text{Aligns here long}\\
&{\lambda^4 v_0 + 4 \lambda^3 B + 6 \lambda^3 A}, & \text{Ali}\\
&{\lambda^5 v_0 + 5 \lambda^4 B + 10 \lambda^4 A},& \text{Aligns here very long}
\end{align*}
\end{document}


Edit No 3:

& here has two purposes: setup the columns and setup the point where the equations will all be aligned. To demonstrate it, we should use equations with = sign, which are actually align is mainly used for. (see here) :

\documentclass[11pt]{amsart}
\begin{document}
And then the first several terms of $v$ are
\begin{align*}
x&=y     &    w&=z              &  a&=b+c\\
2x&=-y    &   3w&=\frac{1}{2}z   &  a&=b\\
-4 + 5x&=2+y   &  w+2&=-1+w           & ab&=cb
\end{align*}
\end{document}


1st, 3rd and 5th & determines the location of =, and the others determine the number of columns. This is how align environment is setup.

• Why would this be needed? Why can't I just put [l] on the align*? – Daniel Martin Jul 8 '17 at 12:13
• align* has no optional argument. aligned has, but it is for the vertical placement ([t]or [b]). – Bernard Jul 8 '17 at 12:23
• Experts please correct me if I am wrong: align* works like/as a LaTeX table. & defines the columns and \\ defines new row. – berkus Jul 8 '17 at 12:32
• Then, and this may be a stupid question, why does adding an optional argument not either do nothing or give an error even vaguely related to the optional argument? In fact, it seems that align* does have an optional argument, but it means "throw an uninformative error at the end of the environment". – Daniel Martin Jul 8 '17 at 12:36
• @DanielMartin It has not, any [] argument should output brackets in your document. But only if you use the typical environment optional argument syntax \begin{align*}[]. Any other syntax is not accepted either (\begin[]{align*} throws an error, because \begin does not have optional arguments). – TeXnician Jul 8 '17 at 12:37