O alinhamento na tabela depende do comprimento do cabeçalho

Question

Quando excluo o cabeçalho "Variáveis ​​gerais usadas no cabeçalho" no código (ou qualquer texto longo), as duas colunas se sobrepõem assim:

Saída atual:

Código atual:

\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}

Mas quando mantenho o cabeçalho, a tabela parece boa. Idealmente, eu gostaria de remover o título e ainda manter a saída assim:

Saída desejada:

O que estou fazendo de errado?

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 tabularxwith \begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{lX}\toprule faz mais sentido:

E sem a segunda linha:

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

Answer 2

Eu me livraria de todas \vskipas instruções e simplesmente usaria um ambiente \hskipde duas colunas . tabularxPor falar nisso,em negritoé muito mais eficaz se usado com moderação.

\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}