# How to make 4 columns of this recommended format LaTeX table?

I am researching on how to format and use tables the proper way and I came across this guide: How to make nice tables

On one of the slides, there is this table, which looks pretty nice and it's also recommended to use that format. I want to use it but there is no code for that table, and also I want to have 4 columns but keep the rest of the layout exactly the same as in the picture. I have already added \usepackage{booktabs} to my preamble.tex.

Can someone help me with the code? Thanks in advance.

• Welcome to TeX.SX! There's an example table provided on slide 10. The guide also mentions the use of the booktabs package which has documentation available in English, German and French. – siracusa May 19 at 3:29
• Please show what you have tried so far. Regarding the space to the left and right of the table: @{} is what you are looking for. – leandriis May 19 at 7:00

put the forth l before or after the defined three columns:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{ @{} l l >{$\mathstrut\displaystyle}l<{$} @{} }\toprule
\emph{concept} & \emph{abstract} & \multicolumn{1}{l}{\emph{realized}} \\\midrule
foo & bar & y=f(x) \\
foo & bar & y=f(x)=\int_1^\infty \frac1{x^2}\mathrm dx \\
foo & bar & y=f(x) \\
foo & bar & y=f(x)=\int_1^\infty \frac1{x^2}\mathrm dx \\
foo & bar & y=f(x) \\
foo & bar & y=f(x)=\int_1^\infty \frac1{x^2}\mathrm dx \\[3ex]
foo & bar & y=f(x)=\int_1^\infty \frac1{x^2}\mathrm dx \\\bottomrule
\end{tabular}

\end{document}


• Thanks for the help. But what do you mean by "put the forth l before or after the defined three columns"? In Overleaf, this part of the code is being highlighted in red: $\mathstrut\displaystyle}l<{$} but i have already added the \usepackage{booktabs} to my preamble.tex so i'm confused why it's showing this error. Do i need to include another package? Also, i want to add a header to the fourth column but i'm not sure what to change. – WiredMaker May 19 at 15:56
• you asked for four columns but your example has only three. So the question is, where to put the forth column? – user187802 May 19 at 16:02
• You're right. I misread the integrals as the values of the fourth column. So, i tried to adapt the template to four columns. \begin{tabular}{ @{} l l l >{$\mathstrut\displaystyle}l<{$} @{} }\toprule It seems to be fine. No errors generated. But i would like to change the font of the headers so that it's bold and no italics. – WiredMaker May 19 at 16:40
• Also, what is the purpose of the [3ex] in the code? – WiredMaker May 19 at 16:50
• additional vertical space: three times of the height of the current x – user187802 May 19 at 17:10