7

I am currently working on a proceedings paper, and have realised after finishing it that only specific packages are permitted - one of which is not amsmath. As a result, many of the nice equations that I have written can now no longer be built. To save me switching back to \begin{cases} \end{cases} and giving up, I thought I would try asking on here to see if anyone could provide me with a solution?

I cannot define add any new commands before \begin{document}, so everything must be done after that point. I thought about trying to grab the relevant components from the style file, but to be perfectly honest I am not a TeX-wizard and have no idea whether this would even work.Could anyone provide me with a work-around, so that I can still use align and aligned, but by doing so after \begin{document}?

If it helps, the packages I am permitted to use are:

\usepackage{mathptmx}       
\usepackage{helvet}         
\usepackage{courier}        
\usepackage{type1cm}        
\usepackage{graphicx}        
\usepackage[bottom]{footmisc}    
\usepackage{amssymb}    
\usepackage{amsfonts}   
\usepackage{amsbsy}   
\usepackage{amscd}   
\usepackage{amstext}   
\usepackage{dsfont}   
\usepackage[english]{babel}   
\usepackage{color}   
\usepackage{graphics}   
\usepackage{epsfig}   
\usepackage{subfigure}   
\usepackage{wrapfig}   
\usepackage{psfrag}   
\usepackage{color}   
\usepackage{url}   
\usepackage{verbatim}   
\usepackage{algorithm}   
\usepackage{algorithmic}   

Edit: An MWE is as follows:

\documentclass{svmult}   
\usepackage{mathptmx}       
\usepackage{helvet}         
\usepackage{courier}        
\usepackage{type1cm}        

\usepackage{graphicx}        

\usepackage[bottom]{footmisc}

\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{amscd}
\usepackage{amstext}
\usepackage{dsfont}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{graphics}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{subfigure}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{psfrag}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{verbatim}
\usepackage{algorithm}
\usepackage{algorithmic}


\begin{document}

\begin{equation}
\label{InitSystemNL}
\left\{
\begin{aligned}
\mathcal{R} \colon= -\Delta u &= f  \quad & &\text{in} \,\, \Omega \\ u &= 0 \quad & &\text{on} \,\, \partial\Omega, \end{aligned} \right.
\end{equation}

\end{document}
7
  • 2
    Two comments: (1) It's possible to define commands/enviroments after \begin{document}, if needed. (2) Mimicking align-like styles are possible, but could depend on your application. Most notably would be using a regular array environment. However, it's difficult to address this fully without seeing some form of minimal working example (MWE).
    – Werner
    Dec 7, 2012 at 17:49
  • 1
    Hi Werner, thanks for the quick reply. I have edited my original response to include the MWE. Hope this helps - please let me know if you need any more info. Dec 7, 2012 at 17:54
  • 1
    Really!!! A math publication that prohibits amsmath? That to me seems kind of ridiculous. I don't quite understand why there should be such restrictions. I know if I had gotten this far and something and was rejected for a package reason I would just copy the entire package and make it part of my content!! :-) I know that this is not a very helpful comment, but Welcome to TeX.SE. Dec 7, 2012 at 17:54
  • 1
    So you're open to a solution that requires you to redo all your align-like structures into something like array?
    – Werner
    Dec 7, 2012 at 18:03
  • 1
    If it was possible to edit the original equation to fit with array in such a way that the output when compared to the original with amsmath was similar, then yes, I would be prepared to edit the document. I imitially suggested trying to use \aligned and \align after \begin{document} though as I have used them in about 17 places, so a fair bit of editing will be needed if I choose this route. Dec 7, 2012 at 18:11

2 Answers 2

5

To avoid needing to edit the existing doc you can defined a poor man's aligned as follows (but first try to get the rules changed)

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}   
\usepackage{mathptmx}       
\usepackage{helvet}         
\usepackage{courier}        
\usepackage{type1cm}        

\usepackage{graphicx}        

\usepackage[bottom]{footmisc}

\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{amscd}
\usepackage{amstext}
\usepackage{dsfont}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{graphics}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{subfigure}
\usepackage{wrapfig}
\usepackage{psfrag}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{verbatim}
\usepackage{algorithm}
\usepackage{algorithmic}


\begin{document}
\def\aligned{\vcenter\bgroup\let\\\cr
\halign\bgroup&\hfil${}##{}$&${}##{}$\hfil\cr}
\def\endaligned{\crcr\egroup\egroup}

\begin{equation}
\label{InitSystemNL}
\left\{
\begin{aligned}
\mathcal{R} \colon= -\Delta u &= f  \quad & &\text{in} \,\, \Omega \\ u &= 0 \quad & &\text{on} \,\, \partial\Omega, 
\end{aligned} 
\right.
\end{equation}

\end{document}
2
  • Thanks so much for this, its saved me a lot of work. I originally used Werner's suggestion, however this has dealt with most of the issues for me. Dec 7, 2012 at 19:08
  • Just to follow up, I also need a workaround for subequations, if you have one or know how? I have posted a separate topic from this one to save confusion. Dec 7, 2012 at 19:24
4

Here is an example showing the output generated with and without amsmath:

enter image description here

\documentclass{svmult}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}

\noindent With \verb|amsmath|:
\begin{equation}
  \left\{\begin{aligned}
    \mathcal{R} \colon= -\Delta u &= f  \quad & &\text{in} \,\, \Omega \\ 
    u &= 0 \quad & &\text{on} \,\, \partial\Omega,
  \end{aligned}\right.
\end{equation}

\noindent Without \verb|amsmath|:
\begin{equation}
  \left\{\begin{array}{r@{}l@{\qquad}l}
    \mathcal{R}\colon=-\Delta u & {}=f & \textrm{in}\ \Omega \\[\jot]
    u & {}=0 & \textrm{on}\ \partial\Omega,
  \end{array}\right.
\end{equation}
\end{document}

The most important part to address is the choice of your column specification in order to adequately address the alignment matching with that of align or aligned. The use of \jot is to provide a similar line-spacing to array between rows.

3
  • How come the majuscule greek are in italic?
    – morbusg
    Dec 7, 2012 at 18:16
  • @morbusg: That's the way svmult defines it. It uses a different font.
    – Werner
    Dec 7, 2012 at 18:18
  • Thanks for the reply. This certainly works - I have no idea how you came up with such a solution though! I have used the method proposed above for now, as it seems the easiest option to use, and keeps the formatting the same. Thanks, Chris Dec 7, 2012 at 19:09

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