# table going outside the page

Why this table goes outside the page:

    \documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage{makeidx}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{array,booktabs,siunitx}
\usepackage[italian]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\makeindex
\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\printindex
\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|c|c|}
\toprule
T $^\circ$ C & 6 $^\circ$ C & 20 $^\circ$ C & 37 $^\circ$ C \\
\toprule
Solvente & conc. (\%p/V) & contenuto fase liq. (\%) & contenuto fase liq. (\%) & contenuto fase liq.(\%)  \\
\midrule
\multirow{4}{*}{Water}& 1 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1\\
& 2 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & - & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 \\
& 3 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & - \\
& 4 & 84.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & 90 $\pm$ 5 & 83.3 $\pm$ 0.2\\
\midrule
\multirow{4}{*}{Saline} &1 &  99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1\\
& 2 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.2 \\
& 3 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 \\
& 4 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.8 $\pm$ 0.2 \\
\midrule
\multirow{4}{*}{PBS } & 1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & - & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 \\
& 2 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.2 & - & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1\\
& 3 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.7 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1\\
& 4 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.2\\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{\emph{Rapporto liquido/solido per i campioni in acqua, in soluzione fisiologica e in tampone fosfato alle concentrazioni del 1, 2, 3, 4\% p/V, alle temperature di 6, 20, 37$^\circ$ C}}
\end{table}

• You could shorten the table column headers (add a third line break or delete repeaded information). Unrelated to the issue: If you use booktabs horizontal lines you should also avoid vertical lines (see the booktabs manual). If you are interested in aligning numbers in table columns you ight want to have a look at the siunitx package. – leandriis Apr 4 at 11:39

Why [does] this table goes outside the page?

It's mostly because the header cells contains a lot of (repeated) information and no intra-cell line breaks are allowed.

The most appealing solution, in my opinion, consists of reorganizing and rearranging the header cells to get rid of the repetitive material.

I would also get rid of all vertical lines. They're not needed -- really!

\documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{report}
%%% (commented out all packages not needed for this example)
%\usepackage{graphicx}
%\usepackage{makeidx}
%\usepackage{multirow}
%\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{array,booktabs,siunitx}
\usepackage[italian]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
%\makeindex
\begin{document}
%\tableofcontents
%\printindex

\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{@{} ccccc @{}}
\toprule
conc.\ (\%p/V)& \multicolumn{3}{c}{Contenuto fase liq. (\%)} & Solvente \\
\cmidrule(lr){2-4}
& \SI{6}{\celsius} & \SI{20}{\celsius} & \SI{37}{\celsius} \\
\midrule
1 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1 & water\\
2 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & -- & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 & water \\
3 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & -- & water \\
4 & 84.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & 90 $\pm$ 5 & 83.3 $\pm$ 0.2 & water\\ \addlinespace
1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & saline \\
2 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.2 & saline\\
3 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & saline\\
4 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.8 $\pm$ 0.2 & saline\\ \addlinespace
1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & -- & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS\\
2 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.2 & -- & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS \\
3 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.7 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS\\
4 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.2 & PBS \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Rapporto liquido/solido per i campioni in acqua, in soluzione fisiologica e in tampone fosfato alle concentrazioni del 1, 2, 3, 4\% p/V, alle temperature di 6, 20, e \SI{37}{\celsius}.}
\end{table}
\end{document}

• I removed some duplicate information like repeating water multiple times saline....but it is still outside – Giuliano Malatesta Apr 4 at 12:04
• @GiulianoMalatesta - Removing repeated instances of "Water" and "Saline" does not affect the overall *width" of the tabular material. To reduce its width, one has to do something about the header material. – Mico Apr 4 at 14:05

To exemplify (I hope!) the above comments, I would try

\documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{array,booktabs,siunitx,rotating}
\usepackage[italian]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}[p]
\begin{tabular}{ccccc}
\toprule
T $^\circ$ C & 6 $^\circ$ C & 20 $^\circ$ C & 37 $^\circ$ C \\
conc. (\%p/V) & \multicolumn{1}{p{2cm}}{\centering contenuto fase liq. (\%)} & \multicolumn{1}{p{2cm}}{\centering
contenuto fase liq. (\%)} & \multicolumn{1}{p{2cm}}{\centering contenuto fase liq.(\%)} & solvente \\
\midrule
1 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1 & water\\
2 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & - & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 & water \\
3 & 84.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & - & water \\
4 & 84.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & 90 $\pm$ 5 & 83.3 $\pm$ 0.2 & water\\
1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & saline \\
2 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.2 & saline\\
3 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.9 $\pm$ 0.2 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & saline\\
4 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & 98.8 $\pm$ 0.2 & saline\\
1 & 99.1 $\pm$ 0.1 & - & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS\\
2 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.2 & - & 99.3 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS \\
3 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.7 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.5 $\pm$ 0.1 & PBS\\
4 & 99.4 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.0 $\pm$ 0.1 & 99.2 $\pm$ 0.2 v PBS \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Rapporto liquido/solido per i campioni in acqua, in soluzione fisiologica
e in tampone fosfato alle concentrazioni del 1, 2, 3, 4\% p/V, alle temperature di 6, 20, 37$^\circ$ C}
\end{table}
\end{document}


• @Giuliano Malatesta Also, it seems that there is typo in the last line before PBS. I did not modify that since I am unsure. – Denis Apr 4 at 11:59
• @Giuliano Malatesta Also, the decimal separator in Italian is the comma, AFAIK. – Denis Apr 4 at 12:09

mostly off-topic, as variation of nice @Mico answer. exploited is separate-uncertainty=true for shorter typing of numbers in S columns:

\documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage[italian]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{array,booktabs,siunitx}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}[htbp]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{c
*{3}{S[table-format=2.1(1),
separate-uncertainty=true,
output-decimal-marker={,}]}
l}
\toprule
T \si{\celsius}
&   \multicolumn{3}{c}{contenuto fase liq. (\%)}
&   solvente\\
\cmidrule{2-5}
conc. (\%p/V)
& \SI{6}{\celsius}
& \SI{20}{\celsius}
& \SI{37}{\celsius}     \\
\midrule
1   & 84.3(1)  & 99.2(1)   & 98.9(1)   & water      \\
2   & 84.3(1)    & {--}      & 98.9(2)   & water    \\
3   & 84.3(1)    & 99.2(1)   & {--}      & water    \\
4   & 84.5(1)    & 90(5)     & 83.3(2)   & water    \\
1   & 99.1(1)    & 98.9(1)   & 99.3(1)   & saline   \\
2   & 99.2(1)    & 99.1(1)   & 99.4(2)   & saline   \\
3   & 99.1(1)    & 98.9(2)   & 99.5(1)   & saline   \\
4   & 99.2(1)    & 99.1(1)   & 98.8(2)   & saline   \\
1   & 99.1(1)    & {--}      & 99.5(1)   & PBS      \\
2   & 99.0(2)    & {--}      & 99.3(1)   & PBS      \\
3   & 99.4(1)    & 99.7(1)   & 99.5(1)   & PBS      \\
4   & 99.4(1)    & 99.0(1)   & 99.2(2)   & PBS      \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Rapporto liquido/solido per i campioni in acqua, in soluzione fisiologica e in tampone fosfato alle concentrazioni del 1, 2, 3, \SI{4}{\% p/V}, alle temperature di 6, 20, \SI{37}{\celsius}.}
\end{table}
\end{document}