LaTex Table using Multirow and @-expressions

Question

I am encountering problems combining the package multirow with the @-expressions. Basically, my table shall look like the one in the following picture:

Now I want to adjust all plusminus signs so they are straight below each other. Therefore, I use the $c@{ \pm }c$ statement behind the \begin{tabular} command. See:

\documentclass{scrbook}

\begin{table}[htbp]
\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
    \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
    \caption[...]{...}
    \label{...}

    \begin{tabular}{c | c@{ $\pm$ }c | c@{ $\pm$ }c }

    \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\bf{STATION}}   &  \multicolumn{2}{c}{\bf{SKEW VALUES}} \\ \hline
    & \bf{Single Traces [s]} & \bf{Stacked Traces [s]}  \\ \hline

    RUM41  &  1.089 & 12.337  &  0.888 & 1.278  \\ 
    RUM42  &  0.193 & 2.626  &  0.074 & 0.580  \\ 
    ...

    \end{tabular}
\end{minipage}
\end{table}

All I get, the @-expression interprets the multicolumn "&" as something to align (see table2). That makes sense but is not desired. Clearly, I would need a command which does an exception of the @-expression for a specific line I state, in this case the multicolumn line. I couldn't find it. Anyone having an idea?

Furthermore, is there a way of fixing the cell width in:

\begin{tabular}{c | c@{ $\pm$ }c | c@{ $\pm$ }c }

m{4cm} does not work for example.

Answer 1

You may want to use dcolumn; playing with the values (here 6.8 and 6.7) is necessary because of the headers wide than the entries.

\documentclass{scrbook}
\usepackage{dcolumn}
\newcolumntype{P}[1]{D{+}{{}\pm{}}{#1}}

\begin{document}

\begin{table}[htbp]
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
\caption[...]{...}\label{...}

\begin{tabular}{c | P{6.8} | P{6.7} } % play with the values to get centering

\textbf{STATION} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{SKEW VALUES}} \\
\hline
 & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{\textbf{Single Traces [s]}}
 & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\textbf{Stacked Traces [s]}} \\
\hline
RUM41 & 1.089 + 12.337 & 0.888 + 1.278  \\
RUM42 & 0.193 +  2.626 & 0.074 + 0.580  \\

\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\end{document}

Note that \bf has been obsolete for more than twenty years.

Answer 2

I found it out myself using multirow and creating tables within single cells. I post the code and the result in the following:

\begin{table}[htbp]\centering
    \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.3}
    \caption[..]{..}
    \label{..}

    \begin{tabular}{c | c | c | c | c }

    \textbf{STATION}    &   \multicolumn{4}{c}{\textbf{SKEW VALUE}} \\ 
    \hline

                        &   \multicolumn{2}{c|}{\textbf{Single Traces [s]}} &  \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{Stacked Traces [s]}}\\
    \hline

    \multicolumn{1}{c|}{  \begin{tabular}{c}                    
                        RUM41 \\
                        RUM42 \\
                        RUM43 \\
                        RUM44 \\
                        RUM45 \\
                        RUM46 \\
                        RUM48 \\
                        \end{tabular}}      &   \multicolumn{2}{c|}{  \begin{tabular}{r@{${}\pm{}$}l}
                                                1.089   &   12.337  \\
                                                0.193   &   2.626   \\
                                                -0.888  &   2.494   \\
                                                -1.441  &   0.873   \\
                                                -0.889  &   0.030   \\
                                                0.563   &   1.100   \\
                                                -1.142  &   0.287   \\
                                                \end{tabular}}          & \multicolumn{2}{c}{   \begin{tabular}{r@{${}\pm{}$}l}
                                                                                                0.888       &   1.278  \\ 
                                                                                                0.074       &   0.580  \\ 
                                                                                                -0.863      &   0.610  \\ 
                                                                                                -1.336      &   0.720  \\ 
                                                                                                -0.828      &   0.263  \\ 
                                                                                                0.601       &   0.189  \\ 
                                                                                                -0.992      &   0.418  \\
                                                                                                \end{tabular}
                                                                                                }\\

    \end{tabular}
 \end{table}

I used a lot of tabs to make clear what belongs where.