Cfrgtkky

Table unnecessarily floats to next page. I want it to be placed where it is specified.

renewcommand{familydefault}{sfdefault}

usepackage{multirow}

usepackage{graphicx}

usepackage[scaled=1]{helvet}

usepackage[helvet]{sfmath}

usepackage{graphicx}

setcounter{chapter}{0}

frontmatter

usepackage{multicol}

setlength{columnsep}{1cm}

begin{document}

chapter{Exponents}

begin{multicols}{2}

renewcommand{theenumii}{Alph{enumii}}

begin{enumerate}

item

begin{table*}[!htbp]

begin{tabular}{cc|c|c|c|c}

    cline{3-5}

    &        & multicolumn{3}{c|}{Course}       &                            

   \ cline{3-6} 

    &        & Algebra I & Geometry & Algebra II & multicolumn{1}{c|} 

{Total} \ hline

    multicolumn{1}{|c|}{multirow{2}{*}{Gender}} & Female & 35        & 53       & 62         & multicolumn{1}{c|}{150}   \ cline{2-6} 

    multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}                        & Male   & 44        & 59       & 57         & multicolumn{1}{c|}{160}   \ hline

    multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Total}                            & 79        & 112      & 119        & multicolumn{1}{c|}{310}   \ hline

end{tabular}

end{table*}

A group of tenth-grade students responded to a survey that asked which math 

course they were currently enrolled in. The survey data were broken down as 

she able above. Which of the following categories accounts for approximately 

19 percent of all the survey respondents?

begin{enumerate}

item   Females taking Geometry

item   Females taking Algebra II

item   Males taking Geometry

item   Males taking Algebra I

end{enumerate}

item

Which of the following expressions is equivalent to 

$ sqrt[3]{a}cdot a cdot sqrt[5]{a^2} $  for $a > 0$ ? 

\

begin{enumerate}

item $a^frac{2}{15}$\

item $a^frac{6}{15}$\

item $a^frac{11}{15}$\

item $a^frac{26}{15}$\

end{enumerate}

item

$$ sqrt{16y^2} $$  

If $x>0$, which of the following is equivalent to the given expression?\

begin{enumerate}

item $4y$\

item $4y^2$\

item $32y$\

item $32y^2$\

end{enumerate}

end{enumerate}

end{multicols}

end{document}

My answer focuses one just one aspect of your posting: How to make the tabular material fit inside the width of a column.

You haven't indicated which document class, which font size, or which page and text block dimensions you employ. The following solutioin may thus not fully meet your formatting needs. If it does not, feel free provide more details regarding the missing pieces of information.

The following screenshot shows both your original tabular environment, with lots and lots of vertical and horizontal lines, as well as a proposed new tabular* environment. The former is obviously much wider than columnwidth. The latter environment takes up much less horizontal space, mainly because it gets by with 5 instead of 6 columns. Conversely, the newly proposed solution (a) aligns the numbers on their respective (implicit) decimal markers and (b) strives to provide a much more "open" look, mainly by omitting all vertical lines and employing fewer, but well-spaced horizontal lines. The second solution also aims to provide an informative caption.

documentclass[twocolumn]{article}  % ?

renewcommand{familydefault}{sfdefault}

usepackage{booktabs,siunitx,multirow}

usepackage[skip=0.333baselineskip]{caption} % optional

begin{document}



begin{table}



caption{Original solution}

begin{tabular}{cc|c|c|c|c}

    cline{3-5}

    &        & multicolumn{3}{c|}{Course}       &                            

   \ cline{3-6} 

    &        & Algebra I & Geometry & Algebra II & multicolumn{1}{c|} 

{Total} \ hline

    multicolumn{1}{|c|}{multirow{2}{*}{Gender}} & Female & 35        & 53       & 62         & multicolumn{1}{c|}{150}   \ cline{2-6} 

    multicolumn{1}{|c|}{}                        & Male   & 44        & 59       & 57         & multicolumn{1}{c|}{160}   \ hline

    multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Total}                            & 79        & 112      & 119        & multicolumn{1}{c|}{310}   \ hline

end{tabular}



vspace{1cm}



caption{Student enrolments, by gender and course}

setlengthtabcolsep{0pt} % make LaTeX figure out amount of inter-column whitespace

begin{tabular*}{columnwidth}{@{extracolsep{fill}}l *{4}{S[table-format=3.0]}}

toprule

Gender & multicolumn{3}{c}{Course} & {Total} \ 

cmidrule{2-4} 

       & {Algebra I} & {Geometry} & {Algebra II} \ 

midrule

Female & 35 & 53 &  62 & 150 \  

Male   & 44 & 59 &  57 & 160 \ 

addlinespace

Total  & 79 &112 & 119 & 310 \ 

bottomrule

end{tabular*}



end{table}

end{document}