La alineación en la tabla depende de la longitud del encabezado

Question

Cuando elimino el encabezado "Variables generales utilizadas en el encabezado" en el código (o cualquier texto largo), las dos columnas se superponen así:

Salida de corriente:

Código actual:

\documentclass[12pt,twoside]{book}
  \usepackage[a4paper, hmargin={2.5cm, 2.5cm}, vmargin={2.5cm, 2.5cm},bindingoffset=6mm]{geometry}      

  \usepackage{amsmath}                      
  \usepackage{mathtools} 
  \usepackage{tabularx}                     
  \usepackage{subcaption}
    \usepackage{booktabs}   

    \begin{document}
    \begin{table}[H] 
    \centering
    \begin{tabular}{lp{6cm}}
        \toprule
        \textbf{Variable} & \textbf{\hskip-1.2in Definition}   \\
        \midrule
        \textbf{General variables used in the model} \\
        $K$ & \hskip-1.2in Fixed amount of money need to start production \\
        $s$ & \hskip-1.2in Baseline quality of the good (normalized to 1) \\
        $n$ & \hskip-1.2in Number of people \\
        $\pi_1, \pi_2, \Pi$ & \hskip-1.2in%
 \vtop{\hsize=3.5in Profits of the entrepreneur in the first period ($\pi_1$),%
 in the second period ($\pi_2$) and total profits $\Pi = \pi_1 + \pi_1$)} \\
        $P_r$ & \hskip-1.2in $P_r$ is the regular price \\
        $\alpha$ & \hskip-1.2in $\alpha$ is specific for Case 1 \\
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}
     \vskip.1in\par
     {\textit{Note}: This table....
        \textit{Source}: Source to be inserted}
    \caption{Definition of variables}
    \label{table_alm}
\end{table}

  \end{document}

Pero cuando mantengo el encabezado, la tabla se ve bien. Lo ideal sería eliminar el título y seguir manteniendo el resultado como este:

Salida deseada:

¿Qué estoy haciendo mal?

Answer 1

\begin{table}[!htb] 
    \centering
    \begin{tabular}{lp{6cm}}\toprule
        \textbf{Variable} & \textbf{ Definition}   \\
        \midrule
        \multicolumn{2}{c}{\textbf{General variables used in the model}} \\
        $K$ & Fixed amount of money need to start production \\
        $s$ & Baseline quality of the good (normalized to 1) \\
        $n$ & Number of people \\
        $\pi_1, \pi_2, \Pi$ & 
            Profits of the entrepreneur in the first period ($\pi_1$),%
            in the second period ($\pi_2$) and total profits ($\Pi = \pi_1 + \pi_1$) \\
        $P_r$ & $P_r$ is the regular price \\
        $\alpha$ & $\alpha$ is specific for Case 1 \\
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabular}

    \bigskip
    \textit{Note}: This table....
    \textit{Source}: Source to be inserted
    \caption{Definition of variables}\label{table_alm}
\end{table}

Usar tabularxcon \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{lX}\toprule tiene más sentido:

Y sin la segunda línea:

    \begin{tabular}{lp{6cm}}\toprule
        \textbf{Variable} & \textbf{Definition}\\\midrule
        $K$ & Fixed amount of money need to start production \\
        ...

Answer 2

Me desharía de todas \vskiplas \hskipinstrucciones y simplemente usaría un entorno de dos columnas tabularx. Por cierto,negritaEs mucho más efectivo si se usa con moderación.

\documentclass[12pt,twoside]{book}
\usepackage[a4paper, margin=2.5cm, bindingoffset=6mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tabularx,booktabs}

\begin{document}    
\begin{table}
    \begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{@{} l X @{}}
        \toprule
        \textbf{Variable} & \textbf{Definition}   \\
        \midrule
        \multicolumn{2}{@{}l}{General variables used in the model} \\[1ex]
        $K$ & Fixed amount of money need to start production \\
        $s$ & Baseline quality of the good (normalized to 1) \\
        $n$ & Number of people \\
        $\pi_1, \pi_2, \Pi$ & Profits of the entrepreneur in the first period ($\pi_1$), 
            profits in the second period~($\pi_2$), and total profits 
            ($\Pi = \pi_1 + \pi_1$) \\
        $P_r$ & $P_r$ is the regular price \\
        $\alpha$ & $\alpha$ is specific for Case 1 \\
        \bottomrule
    \end{tabularx}

    \bigskip
    \textit{Note}: This table \dots 

    \textit{Source}: Source to be inserted
    \caption{Definition of variables}
    \label{table_alm}
\end{table}
\end{document}