# How to break a long equation? [duplicate]

I have an equation long enough to occupy two lines. I want to break it to improve readability. How can I break it?

$$F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap (minPixels < |S| < maxPixels) \cap (|S_{connected}| > |S| - \epsilon) \}$$


I want to break it in 3 lines after \cap. But \\ or \n didn't work.

Use split environment provided by amsmath package.

$$\begin{split} F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} &: (|S| > |C|) \\ &\quad \cap (\text{minPixels} < |S| < \text{maxPixels}) \\ &\quad \cap (|S_{\text{conected}}| > |S| - \epsilon) \} \end{split}$$

• And it would look even nicer with a \mathrm{minPixels} and \mathrm{maxPixels} and \mathrm{connected}. Jan 14 '11 at 12:12
• Be aware that \text inherits formatting from the surrounding text (which might be italic in a theorem environment). Jan 14 '11 at 16:58
• When using \right( and \left) or similar, one should be careful. The \left. and \right. should be used in order to avoid splitting of brackets pairs. For example a line should have the form \left( \ldots \right. \ when it involves this kind of brackets.
– Dror
Jan 9 '12 at 11:15
• I get an error when using \left\{ and \right\} instead of \{ and \}. Apr 21 '17 at 13:00
• Why is the syntax for this so unnecessarily complicated? Jul 29 '20 at 11:13

The aligned environment from amsmath is also a good option:

\begin{aligned} F ={} & \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \\ & \cap (\mathrm{minPixels} < |S| < \mathrm{maxPixels}) \\ & \cap (|S_{\mathrm{conected}}| > |S| - \epsilon)\} \end{aligned}


• What does the empty {} do? Jul 11 '16 at 1:23
• @TylerCrompton - The empty {} works as a math atom to keep the correct spacing around the = symbol, because = is a binary operator just like the + and the - symbols. When you type $-5$ and $x-5$, the first - is a unary operator and is close to the 5, but the second - is a binary operator with larger and equal distances from both x and 5--the same logic holds here. Jul 12 '16 at 12:54

For simple multi-line equations without alignment, use the multline environment:

\begin{multline}
F = \{F_{x} \in  F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap
(minPixels  < |S| < maxPixels) \\ \cap
(|S_{conected}| > |S| - \epsilon)
\}
\end{multline}

• But you would want alignment here, wouldn't you?
– user10274
Jan 2 '13 at 8:41
• Sometimes you want Latex to take care of alignment for you, this environment works nicely in this case. Oct 21 '17 at 14:47

The mathtools package provides the multlined environment.

$$\begin{multlined} F = \{F_{x} \in F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \\ \shoveleft[1cm]{\cap (\mathrm{minPixels} < |S| < \mathrm{maxPixels})} \\ \cap (|S_{\mathrm{connected}}| > |S| - \epsilon) \} \end{multlined}$$

• I checked the latest version of the mathtools package (1.17) and it has no such environment. Perhaps it's been removed since you posted your answer. Nov 7 '15 at 20:39
• @Psychonaut It does indeed have that environment, and has had that all along. Just make sure you are typing multlined (mult without i, i.e. not multilined).
– sodd
Mar 22 '16 at 13:43
\begin{eqnarray}
F = \{F_{x} \in  F_{c} : (|S| > |C|) \cap \nonumber \\
(minPixels  < |S| < maxPixels) \cap \nonumber \\
(|S_{conected}| > |S| - \epsilon)
\\}
\end{eqnarray}

• Don't use {eqnarray}: eqnarray vs align Mar 3 '13 at 12:50
• Isn't using eqnarray a bit pointless if no alignment ponts are employed? (The fact eqnarray is badly deprecated is another strike against it.)
– Mico
Nov 18 '14 at 7:37
• @Mico A point would be that it is the only way the LaTeX kernel provides; the other display math environments do not support several equation lines. But, of course, a package like amsmath is the preferred way. Jul 15 '17 at 13:11