[OS X TeX] Too many Underfull \hbox warnings?

[Don Green Dragon]

Hello Everyone,

I’ve been working on a document which currently produces about 60 pages in the PDF file. Now and  then I like to check the`console’ file and note whatever complaints are lodged.

Consistently, I get complaints about «Underfull \hbox» which I do not understand. For example

Underfull \hbox (badness 10000) in paragraph at lines 872--873

and when I look to lines 872-873 I find:

872  \textbf{Length or Norm of a Vector}\\[-18pt]
873  \end{defn}

which is part of a slightly larger construction:

870  \begin{defn}		% Definition 2.4
871  \label{defn2-4}
872  \textbf{Length or Norm of a Vector}\\[-18pt]
873  \end{defn}

and in the preface I have introduced a {defn} environment as follows:

\newtheorem{defn}{Definition}[chapter]

i.e., ‘definitions’ have their own counter. I am acutely aware that in some sense lines 870-873 use the \newtheorem construction only to keep track of the numbering of the definitions. The actual body of the definition actually follows the closing «\end{defn}» part in order to avoid the annoying (to me) use of an italic font in the body of the definition.

Still, I don’t understand the complaint about line 872. The source file typesets nicely, and I get what I want, but I wonder about all the warnings!

Is TeXShop so insightful that it simply upbraids me about using the \newtheorem structure in an ‘inappropriate’ manner?

Don Green Dragon
fergdc at Shaw.ca