Making Tables in LaTeX - 2017 Update

[Stephen Tashi]

Is there a way to do tables in the forum implementation of Latex?

( I asked this question in 2012 and the "tabular" environment wasn't implemented.)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Is there a way to do tables in the forum implementation of Latex?

( I asked this question in 2012 and the "tabular" environment wasn't implemented.)

I think there are a few ways and I'll let the gurus explain. Just to be clear, since 2011 or so we moved to MathJax which focuses on pure math and does not have explicit "tabular" functionality.

 

[mfb]

We have matrices. Like tables without lines.

\begin{matrix}
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 \\
a & b & c & d \\
x & y & z & w
\end{matrix}

(Why does MathJax parse the table even without $ delimiters if you don't play ugly tricks?)

$$\begin{matrix}
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 \\
a & b & c & d \\
x & y & z & w
\end{matrix}$$

Vertical lines with vmatrix:

$$\begin{vmatrix}
1 \\
a \\
x
\end{vmatrix}
\begin{matrix}
2\\
b\\
y
\end{matrix}
\begin{vmatrix}
3 \\
c \\
z
\end{vmatrix} $$

With \hline added:

$$\begin{vmatrix}
1 \\ \hline
a \\ \hline
x
\end{vmatrix}
\begin{matrix}
2\\ \hline
b\\ \hline
y
\end{matrix}
\begin{vmatrix}
3 \\ \hline
c \\ \hline
z
\end{vmatrix} $$

Not perfect, but it looks table-like.

 

[Mark44]

(Why does MathJax parse the table even without $ delimiters if you don't play ugly tricks?)

I think it's because matrix is an environment, and for some reason you don't need to include the $ or # start/end tags.
It works the same way with other environments such as cases (I think environment is the correct terminology):
f(x) = \begin{cases} 1 & x > 0 \\ 0 & x < 0 \end{cases}

 

[LCKurtz]

Here's how to do it: https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/5010620/

 

[jtbell]

Thanks! I've added it to our LaTeX Primer, in the section that has examples of matrices.