Minipage side by side table sliding below figure

Question

I am trying to have a figure and a table side by side using minipage. When I use \caption instead of using \captionof then the table caption starts with Fig. If the table caption is above the table then the table slides down.

\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \begin{minipage}[b]{0.6\textwidth}
        \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{state-transistion}
        \captionof{figure}{State Transition}
        \label{fig:state-transition}
    \end{minipage}%
    \begin{minipage}[b]{0.3\textwidth}
        \centering
        \captionof{table}{Some Table}%
        \label{table:iterator}%
        \begin{tabular}{l|l}
            \hline
            X & x \\ \hline
            A & a \\
            B & b \\
            C & c
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure*}

Everything works fine if the table caption is below the table.

But I need to place the table caption above the table without wasting that space. Also I don't understand why these is too much space above the Figure caption, but not above the table caption. This is not a big concern though.

Answer 1

With top aligned minipages and valign=t from the adjustbox package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[demo]{graphicx}
\usepackage[export]{adjustbox}
\usepackage{caption}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure*}
    \centering
    \begin{minipage}[t]{0.6\textwidth}
        \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth,valign=t]{state-transistion}
        \captionof{figure}{State Transition}
        \label{fig:state-transition}
    \end{minipage}%
    \begin{minipage}[t]{0.3\textwidth}
        \centering
        \captionof{table}{Some Table}%
        \label{table:iterator}%
        \begin{tabular}{l|l}
            \hline
            X & x \\ \hline
            A & a \\
            B & b \\
            C & c
        \end{tabular}
    \end{minipage}
\end{figure*}
\end{document}

Answer 2

Here's another approach using the floatrow package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{floatrow}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure*}
    \CenterFloatBoxes
    \begin{floatrow}
        \ffigbox[\FBwidth]
            {\includegraphics[width=0.54\textwidth]{example-image}}
            {\caption{State Transition}%
            \label{fig:state-transition}}
        \killfloatstyle\ttabbox[\Xhsize]
            {\caption{Some Table}%
            \label{table:iterator}}
            {\begin{tabular}{l|l}
            \hline
                X & x \\ \hline
                A & a \\
                B & b \\
                C & c
            \end{tabular}}
    \end{floatrow}
\end{figure*}
\end{document}