# Problem using aligned

This MWE

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{aligned} \Gamma_{11}^1 & =0, \qquad \Gamma_{12}^1 & =0, \qquad \Gamma_{22}^1 & =-\frac{1}{2}G_u, \\ G\Gamma_{11}^2 & =0, \qquad G\Gamma_{12}^2 & =\frac{1}{2}G_u, \qquad G\Gamma_{22}^2 & =0. \end{aligned}

\end{document}


Generates:

and I can't understand why is the middle & not working, I've used it in the same way as the first and last &.

• Add one & before each \qquad. And please replace $$...$$ by $...$. – Jasper Habicht Mar 27 at 12:06
• Better yet, \begin{align*}, rather than aligned within . – Davislor Mar 27 at 12:23 ## 2 Answers Since it seems to be a common question how to correctly place ampersands in alignment environments in math, maybe it helps to illustrate it like this: In a lot of alignment environments for math (for example align, aligned, alignat etc.), each ampersand introduces a new column and each double backslash introduces a new row. In each row, every first column is right-aligned and every second column is left-aligned. \documentclass[varwidth]{standalone} \usepackage{amsmath} \begin{document}\footnotesize \[\begin{aligned} \fbox{one\strut} & \fbox{two\strut} \\ \fbox{right-aligned\strut} & \fbox{left-aligned\strut} \end{aligned}

\bigskip

\begin{aligned} \fbox{one\strut} & \fbox{two\strut} & \fbox{three\strut} & \fbox{four\strut} & \fbox{five\strut} & \fbox{six\strut} \\ \fbox{right-aligned\strut} & \fbox{left-aligned\strut} & \fbox{right-aligned\strut} & \fbox{left-aligned\strut} & \fbox{right-aligned\strut} & \fbox{left-aligned\strut} \end{aligned}

\bigskip

\begin{aligned} \fbox{one\strut} & \fbox{two\strut} & \fbox{three\strut} & \fbox{four\strut} & \fbox{five\strut} & \fbox{six\strut} \\ \Gamma_{11}^1 & =0, &\qquad \Gamma_{12}^1 & =0, &\qquad \Gamma_{22}^1 & =-\frac{1}{2}G_u, \\ G\Gamma_{11}^2 & =0, & G\Gamma_{12}^2 & =\frac{1}{2}G_u, & G\Gamma_{22}^2 & =0. \end{aligned}

\end{document}


I suggest you switch to an alignedat environment and place the \qquad directives on the second line. I would also use \tfrac rather than \frac, in order to reduce the visual prominence of the fraction terms.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{alignedat}{3} \Gamma_{\!11}^1 &=0, & \Gamma_{\!12}^1 &=0, & \Gamma_{\!22}^1 &=-\tfrac{1}{2}G_u, \\ G\Gamma_{\!11}^2 &=0,\qquad & G\Gamma_{\!12}^2 &=\tfrac{1}{2}G_u, \qquad & G\Gamma_{\!22}^2 &=0 \,. \end{alignedat}
\end{document}


Or, use a single alignat* environment instead of the \begin{alignedat}{3} ... \end{alignedat} combination:

\begin{alignat*}{3}
\Gamma_{\!11}^1 &=0,       &  \Gamma_{\!12}^1 &=0,                      &  \Gamma_{\!22}^1  &=-\tfrac{1}{2}G_u, \\
G\Gamma_{\!11}^2 &=0,\qquad & G\Gamma_{\!12}^2 &=\tfrac{1}{2}G_u, \qquad & G\Gamma_{\!22}^2  &=0 \,.
\end{alignat*}