Typesetting aligned equation

Question

I'd like to know whether I am doing the following properly. As in, is this the best way to present the development of the equation?

\newcommand{\integral}[2]{\int #1 \, \mathrm{d}#2}
\begin{equation}
    \begin{aligned}
        \derivative{}{x}\left[uv\right] & = \derivative{u}{x} v & + & u \derivative{v}{x} \\
        \integral{\derivative{}{x}\left[uv\right]}{x} & = \integral{\derivative{u}{x} v}{x} & + & \integral{u \derivative{v}{x}}{x} \\
        uv & = \integral{v}{u} & + & \integral{u}{v} \\
        \integral{v}{u} & = uv & - & \integral{u}{v} \\
        & \text{or} & & \\
        \integral{u}{v} & = uv & - & \integral{v}{u} \\
    \end{aligned}
\end{equation}

What should I do about the second operations' alignment (the plus/minus sign)? Do I need to use ampersand for that line of plus/minus symbols? or only for the equal sign? (see image below)

Also what about the 'or' text? How should I deal with that? Should it be under the equal sign or in dead center, or something else?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you insist on providing two alignments points, you should use an alignat* environment, not an align* environment. But, as @egreg has already remarked in a comment, there's nothing in these equations that requires or at least recommends performing alignment across rows. Hence, using a gather* environment may be best.

Both possibilities are illustrated in the following screenshot.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath} % for 'gather*' and 'alignat*' environments
\newcommand{\diff}{\mathop{}\!\mathrm{d}} % "differential" operator
\newcommand\deriv[2]{\frac{\diff #1}{\diff #2}}
\newcommand{\integral}[2]{\int \! #1 \diff #2}

\begin{document}
\begin{alignat*}{2}
\deriv{}{x}\left[uv\right] 
      &= \deriv{u}{x} v &&+ u \deriv{v}{x} \\
\integral{\deriv{}{x}\left[uv\right]}{x} 
      &= \integral{\deriv{u}{x} v}{x} &&+ \integral{u \deriv{v}{x}}{x} \\
uv    &= \integral{v}{u} &&+ \integral{u}{v} \\
\text{hence}\integral{v}{u} 
      &= uv &&- \integral{u}{v} 
\end{alignat*}

\begin{gather*}
\deriv{}{x}[uv] 
      = \deriv{u}{x} v + u \deriv{v}{x} \\
\integral{\deriv{}{x}[uv]}{x} 
      = \integral{\deriv{u}{x} v}{x} + \integral{u \deriv{v}{x}}{x} \\
uv    = \integral{v}{u} + \integral{u}{v} \\
\text{hence}\quad\integral{v}{u} 
      = uv - \integral{u}{v} 
\end{gather*}
\end{document}