Two columns of equations alignment problem

Question

I am trying to use \minipages to create two columns of equations. However, it seems like the equations exceed the 0.5\textwidth I have set for the minipage. Is there any way to break up the equation or to solve it without breaking it up? Thanks!

\begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth}   %left column
\begin{align*}
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)} & = \frac{\gamma \bar{k} I(t) S(t)  +  \alpha \bar{k} S(t) R2(t)  + \delta S(t)}{- \bar{k} I(t)S(t)} \\
     & =  - \gamma - \alpha \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{\delta}{\bar{k} I(t)}
\end{align*}
\end{minipage}
\hfill\vline\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.5\textwidth} %right column
\begin{align*}
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)} & = \frac{5.3 I(t) S(t) + 4.5 S(t) R2(t) + 0.5 S(t)}{-10 I(t) S(t)}  \\
     & =  - 0.53 - 0.45 \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{0.05}{I(t)}
\end{align*}
\end{minipage}

Answer 1

With the standard article class, with no option, the text width is set to 345pt. On the other hand, your longest equations are 195.14384pt and 205.44582pt wide respectively.

This makes for slightly more than 400pt, so there's no chance to set the two blocks side by side unless you increase the text width; in order to ensure space for the mid rule, along with some padding, no less than 420pt are needed.

Here's with 420pt (wider is obviously possible). The showframe option is just to show the margins of the text block.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[textwidth=420pt,showframe]{geometry}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand{\diff}{\mathop{}\!\mathrm{d}}

\begin{document}

\[
\begin{aligned}[t]
  \frac{\diff R1(t)}{\diff I(t)}
  & = \frac{\gamma \bar{k} I(t) S(t)  +  \alpha \bar{k} S(t) R2(t)  + \delta S(t)}
           {- \bar{k} I(t)S(t)} \\
  & =  - \gamma - \alpha \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{\delta}{\bar{k} I(t)}
\end{aligned}\hspace{1000pt minus 1fil}\vrule\hspace{1000pt minus 1fil}
\begin{aligned}[t]
  \frac{\diff R1(t)}{\diff I(t)}
  & = \frac{5.3 I(t) S(t) + 4.5 S(t) R2(t) + 0.5 S(t)}{-10 I(t) S(t)\vphantom{\bar{k}}}  \\
  & =  - 0.53 - 0.45 \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)\vphantom{\bar{k}}}  -  \frac{0.05}{I(t)\vphantom{\bar{k}}}
\end{aligned}
\]

\end{document}

Note the phantoms to make the lines the same height and depth.

Alternatively, a single align*:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand{\diff}{\mathop{}\!\mathrm{d}}

\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
  \frac{\diff R1(t)}{\diff I(t)}
  & = \frac{\gamma \bar{k} I(t) S(t)  +  \alpha \bar{k} S(t) R2(t)  + \delta S(t)}
           {- \bar{k} I(t)S(t)} \\
  & =  - \gamma - \alpha \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{\delta}{\bar{k} I(t)} \\[2ex]
  & = \frac{5.3 I(t) S(t) + 4.5 S(t) R2(t) + 0.5 S(t)}{-10 I(t) S(t)}  \\
  & =  - 0.53 - 0.45 \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{0.05}{I(t)}
\end{align*}

\end{document}

Answer 2

Unless the text block of your document is considerably wider than the default for the article document class, you will need line-break the first fraction term. in both minipage environments.

Note the use of \noindent before the first \begin{minipage} statement:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}

\noindent % <-- new
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth} %left-hand minipage
\begin{align*}
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R_1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)}
    &= \bigl[\gamma \bar{k} I(t) S(t) + \alpha\bar{k}S(t)R_2(t)  \\
    &\quad+\delta S(t)\bigr]\big/\bigl[-\bar{k}I(t)S(t)\bigr] \\
    &=  - \gamma - \alpha \frac{R_2(t)}{I(t)}  -  \frac{\delta}{\bar{k} I(t)}
\end{align*}
\end{minipage}%
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.5\textwidth} %right-hand minipage
\begin{align*}
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R_1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)} 
    &= \bigl[5.3 I(t) S(t) + 4.5 S(t) R_2(t) \\
    &\quad + 0.5 S(t)\bigr]\big/\bigl[-10 I(t) S(t)\bigr]  \\
    &=  - 0.53 - 0.45 \frac{R_2(t)}{I(t)} - \frac{0.05}{I(t)}
\end{align*}
\end{minipage}
\end{document} 

Answer 3

Your equations hardly fit between the margins when loading geometry. Other than that, I propose to use a single align* environment, with three columns, the middle column being dedicated to the vertical line.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry} 

\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)} & = \frac{\gamma \bar{k} I(t) S(t) + \alpha \bar{k} S(t) R2(t) + \delta S(t)}{- \bar{k} I(t)S(t)} & & \vrule &
    \frac{\mathrm{d} R1(t)}{\mathrm{d} I(t)} & = \frac{5.3 I(t) S(t) + 4.5 S(t) R2(t) + 0.5 S(t)}{-10 I(t) S(t)} \\
     & = - \gamma - \alpha \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)} - \frac{\delta}{\bar{k} I(t)} & \smash{\rule[-2ex]{0.5pt}{12ex}}& & & = - 0.53 - 0.45 \frac{R2(t)}{I(t)} - \frac{0.05}{I(t)}
\end{align*}

\end{document}