[OS X TeX] \newcommand\eal{\end{align}

[Philipp Stephani]

Am 18.11.2010 um 07:06 schrieb David Arnold:

> All,
> 
> A colleague of mine asked why this won't compile.
> 
> \documentclass[12pt]{article}
> \usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
> 
> \newcommand{\bal}{\begin{align*}}
> \newcommand{\eal}{\end{align*}}
> 
> \begin{document}
> 
> \bal
> 	\frac{3.5}{4.2} &= \frac{35}{42}\\
> 	&= \frac{5}{6}
> \eal
> 
> \end{document}
> 
> I just didn't have a good answer to give to him.  Can some expert out there explain?

See the document "technote.pdf" (http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/required/amslatex/math/technote.pdf), section 6.