# How to make these two tables look better?

As in the title, I find these two tables really ugly. Any suggestions to make them look better?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c|c}
\toprule
& $$P$$ & $$PI$$ & $$PD$$ & $$PID$$ \\
\midrule
$$P$$ & $$0.5\cdot P_{crit}$$ & $$0.45\cdot P_{crit}$$ & $$0.5\cdot P_{crit}$$ & $$0.6\cdot P_{crit}$$  \\
\midrule
$$I$$ &  & $$\frac{P}{0.85\cdot T_{crit}}$$ &  & $$\frac{P}{0.5\cdot T_{crit}}$$ \\
\midrule
$$D$$ & & & $$0.2\cdot T_{crit}\cdot P$$ & $$0.12\cdot T_{crit}\cdot P$$ \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c|c|c}
\toprule
& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura}& $$P$$ & $$PI$$ & $$PD$$ & $$PID$$ \\
\midrule
$$P$$ & $$\frac{mm}{min}$$&$$110$$ & $$99$$ & $$110$$ & $$132$$  \\
\midrule
$$I$$ & $$\frac{mm}{min\cdot sec}$$ &  & $$247.8$$ &  & $$468.1$$ \\
\midrule
$$D$$ & $$\frac{mm\cdot sec}{min}$$ & & & $$10.3$$ & $$7.5$$ \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

• Remove the vertical lines -- they look ugly in most cases and in conjunction with booktabs they're blasphemous. Also use the S type for the numbers from siunitx package, also for the units – user31729 Aug 29 '17 at 14:17
• I would like to keep these or at least change the layout since i need a good separation of the text – iacopo Aug 29 '17 at 14:18
• Will you have a caption? Have you any reason to let the tables float? – Bernard Aug 29 '17 at 14:21
• Yes i do, i have a caption and a label.. – iacopo Aug 29 '17 at 14:22
• Please, don't use "sec" for second. The correct symbol is "s", and if you use the siunitx package it will take care of this automatically. – Massimo Ortolano Aug 29 '17 at 18:31

I propose this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{nccmath}
\usepackage{booktabs, siunitx}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
$\begin{matrix} \toprule & P & PI & PD & PID \\ \midrule P & 0.5\cdot P_\text{crit} & 0.45\cdot P_\text{crit} & 0.5\cdot P_\text{crit} & 0.6\cdot P_\text{crit} \\ \addlinespace I & & \mfrac{P}{0.85\cdot T_\text{crit}} & & \mfrac{P}{0.5\cdot T\text{crit}} \\ \addlinespace D & & & 0.2\cdot T_\text{crit}\cdot P & 0.12\cdot T_\text{crit}\cdot P \\ \bottomrule \end{matrix}$
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering\sisetup{per-mode=fraction}
\begin{tabular}{ >{$}l<{$}l*{4}{S[table-format=3.1, table-alignment=center]}}
\toprule
& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura}& {P} & {PI} & {PD} & {PID} \\
\midrule
P &\si{mm\per\!\min}&110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\
I & \si{mm\per\!\min\,\s} & & 247.8 & & 468.1 \\
D & \si{mm\s\per\!\min} & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}


If you want some colour, you can have this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{nccmath}
\usepackage{booktabs, siunitx}
\usepackage[table, svgnames]{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
$\begin{matrix} \toprule & P & PI & PD & PID \\ \midrule \cellcolor{Gainsboro}P & 0.5 · P_\text{crit} & 0.45 · P_\text{crit} & 0.5 · P_\text{crit} & 0.6 · P_\text{crit} \\ \addlinespace \cellcolor{Gainsboro}I & & \mfrac{P}{0.85 · T_\text{crit}} & & \mfrac{P}{0.5 · T\text{crit}} \\ \addlinespace \cellcolor{Gainsboro}D & & & 0.2 · T_\text{crit} · P & 0.12 · T_\text{crit} · P \\ \bottomrule \end{matrix}$
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering\sisetup{per-mode=fraction}
\begin{tabular}{ >{\columncolor{Gainsboro}$}l<{$}l*{4}{S[table-format=3.1, table-alignment=center]}}
\toprule
% \cellcolor{white}& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura}& {P} & {PI} & {PD} & {PID} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{\cellcolor{white} Unità di misura}& {P} & {PI} & {PD} & {PID} \\
\midrule
P &\si{mm\per\!\min}&110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\
I & \si{mm\per\!\min\,\s} & & 247.8 & & 468.1 \\
D & \si{mm\s\per\!\min} & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}


• Very nice, but \si{\mm\per\!\min} might look slightly nicer... – Thruston Aug 29 '17 at 16:28
• @Thruston: That's right. I've fixed this in the coloured version. How comes the maintainers of siunitx didn't notice the problem? – Bernard Aug 29 '17 at 16:36

A version that merges both tables to one table to get the formula in the same column as the calculated value:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand*{\Pcrit}{\ensuremath{P_{\text{crit}}}}
\newcommand*{\Tcrit}{\ensuremath{T_{\text{crit}}}}

\begin{document}
\begingroup
\sisetup{per-mode=fraction}
\def\NP{\mskip.5\thinmuskip}
\begin{tabular}{
l
c
S[table-format=3.0]
S[table-format=3.1]
S[table-format=3.1]
S[table-format=3.1]
}
\toprule
& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura} & {$P$} & {$PI$} & {$PD$} & {$PID$} \\
\midrule
$P$ &
& {$0.5\NP\Pcrit$} & {$0.45\NP\Pcrit$}
& {$0.5\NP\Pcrit$} & {$0.6\NP\Pcrit$} \\
$I$ & & & {$\dfrac{P}{0.85\,\Tcrit}$} & & {$\dfrac{P}{0.5\,\Tcrit}$} \\
$D$ & & & & {$0.2\,\Tcrit P$} & {$0.12\,\Tcrit P$} \\
\midrule
$P$ & \si{\milli\meter\per\minute} & 110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\
$I$ & \si{\milli\meter\per\minute\per\second} & & 247.8 & & 468.1 \\
$D$ & \si{\milli\meter\second\per\minute} & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\endgroup
\end{document}


Without number alignemnt, because the number in a column have different units and are therefore not comparable.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand*{\Pcrit}{\ensuremath{P_{\text{crit}}}}
\newcommand*{\Tcrit}{\ensuremath{T_{\text{crit}}}}

\begin{document}
\begingroup
\sisetup{per-mode=fraction}
\def\NP{\mskip.5\thinmuskip}
\begin{tabular}{lccccc}
\toprule
& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura} & $P$ & $PI$ & $PD$ & $PID$ \\
\midrule
$P$ &
& $0.5\NP\Pcrit$ & $0.45\NP\Pcrit$
& $0.5\NP\Pcrit$ & $0.6\NP\Pcrit$ \\
$I$ & & & $\dfrac{P}{0.85\,\Tcrit}$ & & $\dfrac{P}{0.5\,\Tcrit}$ \\
$D$ & & & & $0.2\,\Tcrit P$ & $0.12\,\Tcrit P$ \\
\midrule
$P$ & \si{\milli\meter\per\minute} & 110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\
$I$ & \si{\milli\meter\per\minute\per\second} & & 247.8 & & 468.1 \\
$D$ & \si{\milli\meter\second\per\minute} & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\endgroup
\end{document}


With repeated units:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{siunitx}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand*{\Pcrit}{\ensuremath{P_{\text{crit}}}}
\newcommand*{\Tcrit}{\ensuremath{T_{\text{crit}}}}

\begin{document}
\begingroup
\sisetup{per-mode=fraction}
\def\NP{\mskip.5\thinmuskip}
\def\UnitP{\si{\milli\meter\per\minute}}
\def\UnitI{\si{\milli\meter\per\minute\per\second}}
\def\UnitD{\si{\milli\meter\second\per\minute}}
\begin{tabular}{lccccc}
\toprule
& \shortstack{Unità di\\ misura} & $P$ & $PI$ & $PD$ & $PID$ \\
\midrule
$P$ & \UnitP
& $0.5\NP\Pcrit$ & $0.45\NP\Pcrit$
& $0.5\NP\Pcrit$ & $0.6\NP\Pcrit$ \\
$I$ & \UnitI & & $\dfrac{P}{0.85\,\Tcrit}$ & & $\dfrac{P}{0.5\,\Tcrit}$ \\
$D$ & \UnitD & & & $0.2\,\Tcrit P$ & $0.12\,\Tcrit P$ \\
\midrule
$P$ & \UnitP & 110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\
$I$ & \UnitI & & 247.8 & & 468.1 \\
$D$ & \UnitD & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\endgroup
\end{document}


Here's a solution suggestion that's quite similar, overall, to Bernard's, with the following exceptions:

• Use an array environment instead of a tabular (or matrix) env.

• Omit all instances of \cdot

• Snug up the "crit" subscripts to the letters "P" and "T", resp.

• Use \dfrac in the upper table.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{booktabs,amsmath,siunitx}
\begin{document}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
$\begin{array}{@{} l cccc @{}} \toprule & P & PI & PD & PID \\ \midrule P & 0.5 P_{\!\mathrm{crit}} & 0.45 P_{\!\mathrm{crit}} & 0.5 P_{\!\mathrm{crit}} & 0.6 P_{\!\mathrm{crit}} \\ \addlinespace I & & \dfrac{P}{0.85 T_{\mkern-1.5mu\mathrm{crit}}} & & \dfrac{P}{0.5 T_{\mkern-1.5mu\mathrm{crit}}} \\ \addlinespace D & & & 0.2 T_{\mkern-1.5mu\mathrm{crit}} P & 0.12 T_{\mkern-1.5mu\mathrm{crit}} P \\ \bottomrule \end{array}$
\end{table}

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
$\begin{array}{@{} cc S[table-format=3.0] *{3}{S[table-format=3.1]} @{}} \toprule & \text{Unità di} & {P} & {PI} & {PD} & {PID} \\ & \text{misura} \\ \midrule P & \frac{\mathrm{mm}}{\mathrm{min}} &110 & 99 & 110 & 132 \\ \addlinespace I & \frac{\mathrm{mm}}{\mathrm{min}\,\mathrm{sec}} & & 247.8 & & 468.1\\ \addlinespace D & \frac{\mathrm{mm}\,\mathrm{sec}}{\mathrm{min}} & & & 10.3 & 7.5 \\ \bottomrule \end{array}$
\end{table}

\end{document}