If you're unable to use \intertext
, you need to identify the widest element around each alignment. And the easiest way to capture these "widest elements" is using eqparbox
. Below I define \eqmathbox[<tag>][<align>]{<stuff>}
that puts its contents <stuff>
in a box of widest width across all of the same <tag>
with a specific <align>
ment.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,eqparbox,xparse}
% https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/34412/5764
\makeatletter
\NewDocumentCommand{\eqmathbox}{o O{c} m}{%
\IfValueTF{#1}
{\def\eqmathbox@##1##2{\eqmakebox[#1][#2]{$##1##2$}}}
{\def\eqmathbox@##1##2{\eqmakebox{$##1##2$}}}
\mathpalette\eqmathbox@{#3}
}
\makeatother
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\lipsum*[1]
\begin{align}
\eqmathbox[left][r]{w} &\eqmathbox[centre][l]{z} & \eqmathbox[right][r]{t}
\end{align}
\lipsum*[2]
\begin{align}
\eqmathbox[left][r]{w+w+w+w} & \eqmathbox[centre][l]{z+z+z+z} & \eqmathbox[right][l]{t+t+t+t}
\end{align}
\lipsum*[3]
\end{document}
The alignment choice matches that of the R&
L &
R&
L ... style of align
.
Since eqparbox
uses TeX's \label
-\ref
-like system in order to manage the lengths, you'll need to compile at least twice with every change in the widest element per <tag>
.
\intertext{<text>}
to interrupt analign
environment. Is this what you want or do you want to align equations that are very far apart?align
ments?