TeX Tables: How TeX Calculates Spanned Column Widths
Producing tables in TeX or LaTeX can be quite time-consuming, especially for tables that contain entries which span multiple columns—these can often produce quite unexpected results. Using an extensive collection of annotated TeX tables (in SVG format) we explain the calculations that TeX uses to define the width of columns containing spanned entries (e.g., for table headings). By exploring (and explaining) a few key concepts we hope this article helps to make typesetting TeX tables just a little less frustrating and mysterious.