Padding a number doesn't work when transferring to LaTeX

Question

I have some numbers which I calculate via some previous code. The calculation works fine. However since I want to compare it with experimental data I only need the numbers to a certain number of significant figures.

As an example I have a tuple of numbers:

l = {0.5567857946, 0.55670214585}

I then round this to 5 s.f using SetPrecision[l, 5] which when I print it I obtain {0.55679, 0.55670} which is good, but when I export it to LaTeX and compile it, it is displayed as 0.55679 0.5567. This is not what I want. The following code is an example of what I use to export to LaTeX.

expdat = {
   {"\\begin{tabular}{|c|cc|}"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"Output", "&", "$Heading1$", "&", "$Heading2$", "\\\\"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"$l$", "&", l[[1 ]], "&", l[[2]], "\\\\"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"\\end{tabular}"}
   };

Export["data.tex", expdat, "Table"]

This results in the desired LaTeX code which I can input into my document using:

\FloatBarrier
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.4}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0.5em} 
\input{data}
\caption{MyCaption}
\end{table}
\FloatBarrier

Everything comes out fine except I lose the zeroes on the end of my numbers. The LaTeX code itself does not have the zeroes, so the problem lies somewhere within Mathematica/the transfer to LaTeX.

I have tried the following in Mathematica.

PaddedForm[SetPrecision[l, 5], {5, 5}] but this results in the LaTeX displaying where the first l value should be displaying as a pair of numbers except they are the values of l to arbitrary length. Where the second l value should be is displayed as "5,5". If I change the Mathematica code to

expdat = {
   {"\\begin{tabular}{|c|cc|}"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"Output", "&", "$Heading1$", "&", "$Heading2$", "\\\\"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"$l$", "&", l[[1 ,1]], "&", l[[1, 2]], "\\\\"},
   {"\\hline"},
   {"\\end{tabular}"}
   };

Export["data.tex", expdat, "Table"]

Then I get the same as I did before using PaddedForm.

I have done similar with NumberForm[SetPrecision[l, 5], {5, 5}] but I get the exact same problem.

Does anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

It's not clear to me what you exactly tried. Also, your question hinges on how Export handles numbers, and doesn't really have anything to do with LaTeX. I think the problem is that you need to Map or Thread your PaddedForm over your list:

l = Thread[NumberForm[{0.5567857946, 0.55670214585}, {5, 5}], List, 1]

Note I used NumberForm instead of PaddedForm. Then:

expdat = {
    {"\\begin{tabular}{|c|cc|}"},
    {"\\hline"},
    {"Output","&","$Heading1$","&","$Heading2$","\\\\"},
    {"\\hline"},{"$l$","&",l[[1]],"&",l[[2]],"\\\\"},
    {"\\hline"},{"\\end{tabular}"}
};
ExportString[expdat, "Table"]

"\begin{tabular}{|c|cc|}
\hline
Output	&	$Heading1$	&	$Heading2$	\\
\hline
$l$	&	0.55679	&	0.55670	\\
\hline
\end{tabular}"

I used ExportString so that you can see what the file would look like.