Is there an easy way to align the baseline of the beginning of two columns?

Question

When I do this

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{multicol}
\RequirePackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\begin{document}

\begin{multicols}{2}
{\Large Équations}
\columnbreak

{\Large Calculs et raisonnements}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

I get

Is there a way to force the first baselines to be at the same level?

The solution I'm thinking of now is to add a \vphantom.

edit

PS: Here is why I use \columnbreak. Without \columnbreak, my document doesn't look well balanced.

edit 2

Here is another instance of when I need to columnbreak...

Answer 1

You need \topskip to be big enough to hold the accented capital

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{multicol}
\RequirePackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\showoutput
\begin{document}

{\setlength\topskip{15pt}
\begin{multicols}{2}
{\Large Équations

}
\columnbreak

{\Large Calculs et raisonnements

}
\end{multicols}}
\end{document}

Answer 2

A second solution using the tcolorbox package.

The idea is to use the sidebyside option of the tcolorbox package which displays the upper and lower parts of the boxes side by side.

The space between the two columns is given by the sidebyside gap parameter, here 3mm.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[most]{tcolorbox}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

% box creating the box "double column"
\newtcolorbox{double column}{notitle,lower separated=false,
enhanced,sidebyside,sidebyside align=top,sidebyside gap=3mm,
sharp corners,boxrule=0pt,colback=white,
}


\begin{double column}
\lipsum[1]

\tcblower

\lipsum[2]

\end{double column}
\end{document}

Output:

Answer 3

I wrote a Compo command that allows to show a figure next to a text but that can just as well place two texts or 2 images side by side.

It was corrected by @egreg who made it an environment: Conflict between personal macro and Babel French

Here an example by default where the minipage is separated into two equal parts as well as two other examples where the minipage is separated into two unequal parts and separated by a vertical line.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\RequirePackage[utf8]{inputenc}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
% nouvel environnement Compo
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/403589/conflict-between-personal-macro-and-babel-french

\newlength\colG\newlength\colD%
\newenvironment{Compo}[1][0.5]
 {%
  \setlength{\colG}{#1\linewidth}%
  \setlength{\colD}{\linewidth}%
  \addtolength{\colD}{-\colG}%
  \addtolength{\colG}{-10pt}%
  \addtolength{\colD}{-10pt}%
  \par\noindent%
  \begin{minipage}{\colG}%
 }%
 {%
  \end{minipage}%
  \par%
 }%
\newcommand{\compobreak}{%
  \end{minipage}\hfill\vrule\hfill%
  \begin{minipage}{\colD}%
}%
\newcommand{\componubreak}{%
  \end{minipage}\hfill%
  \begin{minipage}{\colD}%
}%

% fin environnement Compo
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{document}

\begin{Compo}% by default .5
{\Large Équations}
\componubreak 
{\Large Calculs et raisonnements}
\end{Compo}

\smallskip

\dotfill
\smallskip

\begin{Compo}[.4]
{\Large Équations}
\compobreak 
{\Large Calculs et raisonnements}
\end{Compo}

\smallskip

\dotfill
\smallskip

\begin{Compo}[.6]
{\Large Équations}
\compobreak 
{\Large Calculs et raisonnements}
\end{Compo}

\end{document}