# [NTG-context] Math align not working

Fri Jan 1 08:21:04 CET 2021

```On Wed, 30 Dec 2020, Johann Birnick wrote:

> Okay, but I think it's a bug, because as you see in the linked pdf it worked the
> simple way some years ago...

Yes, something has changed internally. Earlier, if you used:

\startalign[align={right,left}, n=4]
...
\stopalign

then the alignment was right left right left, i.e., the alignment cycled. Now, the alignment is right left left left, i.e., unspecified alignments default to left. So, in your example, each column in the second "block" is left aligned. To change that, you can use:

\starttext

\startformula \startalign[m=2,distance=8em,n=5,
align={right,middle,middle,middle,left, right,middle,middle,middle,left}]
\NC 0 \NC < \NC 2x + 5y \NC < \NC 10
\NC 4 \NC < \NC 3x + y \NC < \NC 9 \NR
\NC 3 \NC < \NC 2y + 3z \NC < \NC 15
\NC 10\NC < \NC 8y + 5z \NC < \NC 20 \NR
\stopalign \stopformula

\stoptext

But this is ugly.

I haven't looked at the math alignment code in a while, but I'll check with Hans if the old behavior can be reintroduced.