Multiple times I face this warning “Underfull \hbox (badness 10000) in paragraph” in LaTeX.
In this tutorial, you will learn what the phrase “Underfull \hbox (badness 10000) in paragraph” actually means.
Solution-1
So, if you ever see this message: “Underfull \hbox (badness 10000) in paragraph at lines 4–5,” don’t worry, it’s usually because of a tiny slip-up. Nine times out of ten, it’s caused by having “\” wrongly placed at the end of a paragraph.
Let’s break it down:
When it says “Underfull \hbox,” It’s like saying there’s not enough stuff to fill up a designated space. Imagine making a box 5cm wide and putting just an ‘A’ in it—totally underfilled, right?
Now, if you throw in “\” at the end of a paragraph, it forces a line break, but if there’s nothing in that last line, you end up with a box that’s as wide as the page but completely empty. It’s like an invisible line at the end of your paragraph.
So, the fix? Double-check those “\” placements, and you’ll bid farewell to the mysterious underfull box warning!
Solution-2
Underfull boxes in LaTeX lack enough content to fill the allocated dimensions, prompting the TeX engine to attempt stretching the available content to occupy the designated space.
In the case of underfull boxes, Overleaf also provides information on TeX’s “badness” (badness ). This “badness” serves as a gauge of how extensively TeX has needed to stretch the content to fit into the space designated for it. Typically, badness values fall within the range of 0 to 10000.
Solution-3
Using the newline command “\” in LaTeX (especially on Overleaf) can stir up some trouble.
Here’s the scoop: if you wrap up a line with “\” and kick off the next line with some text, everything’s smooth sailing. Check it out:
\begin{document}
Hello, this is the first line.\\
This is the second line.\\
\end{document}
But, when you want to skip a line (like hitting enter twice), you find yourself using “\” “\” (yes, twice). The hitch? Since you’re tucking “\” at the end of an empty line, it stirs up a glitch.
Take a look:
\begin{document}
Hello, this is the first line.\\
\\ % Empty line
This is the third line.
\end{document}
Now, for the solution: Pop in some white-colored text between “\” and “\” to iron out the kinks. Just make sure you’ve got the xcolor package on board. Take a peek at the code:
\begin{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
Hello, this is the first line.\\
{\color{white}-}\\ % Now this line shows up in the PDF, and no errors pop up.
This is the third line.
\end{article}
I hope you get the solution.