Math & Science ⇒ Depicting math equation derivation steps

[ghantauke]

Hi,

I want a way to write down the steps of how I derived an equation. For example say I have to evaluate the equation 2x*3y where x=1 and y=2.

I write the derivation steps as follows.

2x*3y = 2*1*3*2 (From x=1, y=2)
........= 2*6
........= 12

Assume I want space in the place of the dots(.). (I put dots here because I couldn't align the "=" in all the lines as I wanted to in this post too)

I'm having a hard time aligning the "=" symbol in all the lines. Could someone please help me out?

I tried using \hspace but it doesn't work if I have only one element in the line.

Thanks in advance.

[mas]

You should take a look at the amsmath package. Use the align environment for typesetting multiline equations.

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amsmath}

\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
  2x \times 3y &= 2\times 1 \times 3\times 2 \;\;(\text{for } x=1,\; y=2) \\
           &= 2*6 \\
           &= 12
\end{align*}

\end{document}

Regards,

sridhar

[ghantauke]

wow thanks u helped me out big time.