# Alignment problem when using gather with multicol

I have an alignment problem similar to that which is found in this question. But using column break did not solve my problem as it did in this question.

I guess I could try align, but it would be annoying to rewrite everything in this new format. Is there a way to adapt this code to ensure the alignment is acceptable?

Here is some example code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{multicols}{2}
\subsubsection*{Omaha}
\begin{gather*}
F = FB \neq \textbf{MB = MBS} \\
M = \textbf{MZ = MBD }\neq FZ \\
B = MZS = FBS \neq FZS \\
Z = MZD = FBD \neq FZD
\end{gather*}
\columnbreak
\subsubsection*{Crow}
\begin{gather*}
F = \textbf{FB = FZS} \neq MB \\
M = MZ \neq \textbf{FZ = FZD} \\
B = FBS = MZS \neq MBS \\
Z = FBD = MZD \neq MBD
\end{gather*}
\end{multicols}

\end{document}

• gather will always center each line separately. Use align* instead, placing the & at the beginning of the line so that every line is aligned at the left. Jun 24, 2021 at 1:58

With use of the tabularx table instead of the multicol environment:

(red lines show text borders)

\documentclass{article}
%---------------- show page layout. don't use in a real document!
\usepackage{showframe}
\renewcommand\ShowFrameLinethickness{0.15pt}
\renewcommand*\ShowFrameColor{\color{red}}
%---------------------------------------------------------------%

\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

\noindent%
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{} X @{} X @{}}
\subsubsection*{Omaha}
\begin{gather*}
F = FB \neq \mathbf{MB = MBS} \\
M = \mathbf{MZ = MBD }\neq FZ \\
B = MZS = FBS \neq FZS \\
Z = MZD = FBD \neq FZD
\end{gather*}
&
\subsubsection*{Crow}
\begin{gather*}
F = \mathbf{FB = FZS} \neq MB \\
M = MZ \neq \mathbf{FZ = FZD} \\
B = FBS = MZS \neq MBS \\
Z = FBD = MZD \neq MBD
\end{gather*}
\end{tabularx}
or

\noindent%
\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{@{} X @{} X @{}}
\subsubsection*{Omaha}
\begin{aligned} F & = FB \neq \mathbf{MB = MBS} \\ M & = \mathbf{MZ = MBD }\neq FZ \\ B & = MZS = FBS \neq FZS \\ Z & = MZD = FBD \neq FZD \end{aligned}
&
\subsubsection*{Crow}
\begin{aligned} F & = \mathbf{FB = FZS} \neq MB \\ M & = MZ \neq \mathbf{FZ = FZD} \\ B & = FBS = MZS \neq MBS \\ Z & = FBD = MZD \neq MBD \end{aligned}
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}


You can maybe use instead a tabular environnement with some minipages such like this :

\begin{tabular}{p{.5\textwidth}p{.5\textwidth}}
\begin{minipage}{1\textwidth}
\subsubsection*{Omaha}
$F = FB \neq \textbf{MB = MBS} \\ M = \textbf{MZ = MBD }\neq FZ \\ B = MZS = FBS \neq FZS \\ Z = MZD = FBD \neq FZD$
\end{minipage}
&
\begin{minipage}{1\textwidth}
\subsubsection*{Crow}
$F = \textbf{FB = FZS} \neq MB \\ M = MZ \neq \textbf{FZ = FZD} \\ B = FBS = MZS \neq MBS \\ Z = FBD = MZD \neq MBD$
\end{minipage}
\end{tabular}

• this is definitely an improvement - but it removes the centering of the equations for me. How might I maintain the formatting of the equations in the example? (i.e. off set the heading with centereed equations?) Aug 28, 2020 at 7:23