[OS X TeX] column width in tables

[Maarten Sneep]

On 28 Apr 2006, at 1:05, Themis Matsoukas wrote:

> Your first column is too wide because it has to accommodate the  
> very last item:
>
>       "\small\textit{Source: } NLSY97 and 2000 Census Longform  
> Survey".
>
> One way to correct this is to say:
>
>        \multicolumn{6}{l}{\small\textit{Source: } NLSY97 and 2000  
> Census Longform Survey}

And if this is some sort of table footnote, it should be taken  
outside of the tabular environment:

\begin{table}
\caption[. . .]{. . .}
{\centering
\begin{tabular}{ldddd}
. . .
\end{tabular}}\\
\small\textit{Source: } NLSY97 and 2000 Census Longform Survey
\end{table}

Oh, and read http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html? 
label=vertspacefloat (and skim the rest of the FAQ).

Personally I prefer tables without lines, although some horizontal  
lines can be useful, on occasion, when used sparingly.

Maarten

> On Apr 27, 2006, at 3:27 PM, Scott Cunningham wrote:
>
>>
>> When I use the following code, the first column which reports the  
>> names of variables ends up being far wider than any other column.   
>> Why is this happening?  How do I specify that I want the first  
>> column to be as large as the longest string in one of the cells in  
>> that column, and no wider?  I will report both the code I'm using,  
>> and then following that, some of the errors I received when it was  
>> compiling.
>>
>> ****** CODE ********
>> \begin{table}[!tbp] \caption{Estimated Effect of Relationship  
>> Markets on Male's Recent Sex Partners (Robust Standard Errors in  
>> Parenthesis)}
>> \begin{center}
>> \begin{tabular}{ld..} \toprule
>> \multicolumn{1}{1}{} &\multicolumn{1}{c}[1]&\multicolumn{1}{c}[2]& 
>> \multicolumn{1}{c}[3]&\multicolumn{1}{c}[4]&\multicolumn{1}{c} 
>> {\textbf{[5]}}\\
>> \toprule
>> SexRatio$^{-1}$&         .018&         .021&         . 
>> 037&         .071&         .062\\
>>         &       (.011)&       (.011)&       (.018)&       (.027) 
>> &       (.026)\\
>> Age     &        3.979&        3.182&        3.215&         
>> 3.698&         .991\\
>>         &       (.829)&       (.885)&       (.925)&      (1.008) 
>> &      (1.204)\\
>> Age$^2  &       --.101&       --.074&       --.076&       --. 
>> 091&       --.036\\
>>         &       (.024)&       (.025)&       (.025)&       (.028) 
>> &       (.032)\\
>> Edu     &       --.153&       --.067&       --.026&       --. 
>> 028&         .378\\
>>         &       (.138)&       (.146)&       (.165)&       (.170) 
>> &       (.264)\\
>> Parents Married&       --.812&       --.902&       --.957&        
>> --.983&       --.668\\
>>         &       (.316)&       (.358)&       (.387)&       (.393) 
>> &       (.727)\\
>> \hline
>> R$^2$   &         .017&             &             &              
>> &         .091\\
>> N. of individuals&     2277.000&     2277.000&     2277.000&      
>> 2277.000&     2277.000\\
>> \midrule
>> \midrule
>> $SexRatio$^{-1}$&         .000&       --.000&       --.004&        
>> --.016&       --.015\\
>>         &       (.010)&       (.010)&       (.013)&       (.020) 
>> &       (.021)\\
>> Age     &        2.358&        2.115&        2.078&         
>> 1.924&         .621\\
>>         &       (.406)&       (.422)&       (.434)&       (.432) 
>> &       (.551)\\
>> Age$^2  &       --.055&       --.047&       --.047&       --. 
>> 042&       --.014\\
>>         &       (.011)&       (.011)&       (.012)&       (.012) 
>> &       (.013)\\
>> Edu     &       --.299&       --.242&       --.229&       --. 
>> 224&         .102\\
>>         &       (.083)&       (.090)&       (.096)&       (.097) 
>> &       (.132)\\
>> Parents Married&       --.711&       --.648&       --.644&        
>> --.645&         .213\\
>>         &       (.131)&       (.149)&       (.149)&       (.149) 
>> &       (.348)\\
>> \hline
>> R$^2$   &         .032&             &             &              
>> &         .046\\
>> N. of individuals&     5499.000&     5499.000&     5499.000&      
>> 5499.000&     5499.000\\
>> \bottomrule
>> \small\textit{Source: } NLSY97 and 2000 Census Longform Survey
>> \end{tabular}
>> \end{center}
>> \end{table}


For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat,  
and wrong.

------------------------- Info --------------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
          & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Archive: http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/