LaTeX forum ⇒ Math & Science ⇒ flalign

[jonathan webley]

I have a couple of equations, with text that I want to align. However flalign works like a table with columns, with no overlap between columns.

I would like my output to look like, which fits easily on an A4 page:

lots of text from left margin  x = 1 lots of text to right margin
                         34x + y = 5x + y

This is what I have tried:

\documentclass{amsart}
\begin{document}
\begin{flalign*}
& \text{lots of text from left margin} & x &= 1  & \text{lots of text to right margin} \\
&& u + 2v + w + 34x + y + 4z &= 3u + v + 2w + 5x + y + 3z \\
\end{flalign*}
\end{document}

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi Jonathan,

that's intended ... but you can try overlapping with workarounds by \rlap and \llap for instance:

\begin{flalign*}
& \rlap{lots of text from left margin\ } & x &= 1  &
    \llap{\ lots of text to right margin} \\
&& u + 2v + w + 34x + y + 4z &= 3u + v + 2w + 5x + y + 3z \\
\end{flalign*}

Stefan

[yiorgosb]

I've tried the above suggested solution and worked like a charm!

However, when the text (that inside rlap{} )is two long it overlaps
the result is really a mesh. Both equation and number are overlapped by text. How could I force the text to break (preferred automatically or manually otherwise)

[yiorgosb]

Hi Jonathan,

that's intended ... but you can try overlapping with workarounds by \rlap and \llap for instance:

\begin{flalign*}
& \rlap{lots of text from left margin\ } & x &= 1  &
    \llap{\ lots of text to right margin} \\
&& u + 2v + w + 34x + y + 4z &= 3u + v + 2w + 5x + y + 3z \\
\end{flalign*}

Stefan

When the above code is used with {flalign} instead of {flalign*} the text inside \llap overlaps with the equation number. I found a fix that I would like to share.
Simply put a \: (or bigger space like \quad at the end of \llap
Then the above code would be

\begin{flalign}
& \rlap{lots of text from left margin\ } & x &= 1  &
    \llap{\ lots of text to right margin} \: \\
&& u + 2v + w + 34x + y + 4z &= 3u + v + 2w + 5x + y + 3z \\
\end{flalign}