# [texhax] A question with regards to align*

Tue Apr 8 17:31:38 CEST 2008

Christian Hans Aastrup :

> Hello there!
>
> I'm very happy to display mathematics in
>
> \begin{align*}
> ...
> \end{align*}
>
> and I'm wondering whether it is possible to make LaTeX read
>
> $$....$$ as \begin{align*} ... \end{align*}???
>
> - Christian Aastrup
>

I would not be a good idea, and as \begin{align*} is actually looking for
the literal string '\end{align*}' I don't think it is possible.

If typing \begin{align*} all the time is tedious, I would recommend
switching to a better editor.

Note also that using

\begin{align*}
...
\end{align*}

makes the code a lot easier to read than using

$$...$$

or as most $$-users do$$...On a different note, it is not a good idea to use align* for one-liners (such as...) since align is not aware of the length of the line of
text just before the math display, whereas equation(*) is, and equation(*)
therefore is able to re-adjust it position acordingly (which uses the
space on the page a lot better).

As you seem to be danish, I would recommend my Danish LaTeXbook

http://www.imf.au.dk/system/latex/bog/

/daleif