Wrapfig isn't working in my fcolorbox minipage

Question

I'm trying to get text to wrap around my figure. This works fine in the main body of my text, but when I put it inside an \fcolorbox the text simply overwrites the image. I've reduced my code to the example below. Being new here I apologize if I'm doing this wrong, but I don't see a link to upload a file, so I'm hoping people can reproduce this using any image file they have lying around.

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{graphicx} % Allows graphics to be imported
\usepackage{wrapfig} % Allows figures to go on the side of the page with text wrapping around them
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{color} % An easy way to get shaded boxes
\definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.8} % Defines the color we're using for shaded boxes

\begin{document}

\fcolorbox{black}{light-gray}{\begin{minipage}{\columnwidth}\parskip=6pt
Some text

\begin{wrapfigure}{r}{.2\textwidth}
\vspace{-15pt}
\begin{center}\includegraphics[width=.18\textwidth]{latexchapters/vectorsfigures/simplepath.png}\end{center}
\vspace{-15pt}
\end{wrapfigure}

{\it Answer:} To find the potential at $(x,y)$ we evaluate a line integral from the origin to $(x,y)$. For simplicity we use the path shown on the right, first going from $(0,0)$ to $(x,0)$ and then from there to $(x,y)$. Along the first segment only $f_x$ contributes, and since $y=0$, $f_x=1$ and the line integral equals $x$. Along the second segment only $f_y$ contributes, and $x$ is constant but $y$ is not, so we get $x\int_0^ye^{\tilde{y}}d\tilde{y} = xe^y-x$. Combining the two segments we find $\int_C\vec{f}=xe^y$. Remember that the gradient theorem just relates line integrals to gradients, but the definition of potential we use includes an additional minus sign, so $V(x,y)=-xe^y$.

\end{minipage}}

\end{document}

Answer 1

Please note that the \it, \bf, etc. font macros are deprecated because they do not use the new font selection scheme introduced with LaTeX2e. Please use {\itshape ..}, {\bfseries ..} or \textit{..}, \textbf{..} instead. See Does it matter if I use \textit or \it, \bfseries or \bf, etc. and Will two-letter font style commands (\bf, \it, …) ever be resurrected in LaTeX? for more information.

Using \textit{...} solves the problem in your case (I've used example-image-a from the mwe package):

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage{graphicx }% Allows graphics to be imported
\usepackage{wrapfig} % Allows figures to go on the side of the page with text wrapping around them
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{color} % An easy way to get shaded boxes
\definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.8} % Defines the color we're using for shaded boxes

\begin{document}

\noindent
\fcolorbox{black}{light-gray}{\begin{minipage}{\dimexpr\linewidth-2\fboxsep-2\fboxrule}\parskip=6pt
Some text

\begin{wrapfigure}{r}{.2\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.18\textwidth]{example-image-a}
\end{wrapfigure}

\textit{Answer}: To find the potential at $(x,y)$ we evaluate a line integral from 
the origin to $(x,y)$. For simplicity we use the path shown on the right, first going 
from $(0,0)$ to $(x,0)$ and then from there to $(x,y)$. Along the first segment only 
$f_x$ contributes, and since $y=0$, $f_x=1$ and the line integral equals $x$. Along the 
second segment only $f_y$ contributes, and $x$ is constant but $y$ is not, so we get 
$x\int_0^ye^{\tilde{y}}d\tilde{y} = xe^y-x$. Combining the two segments we find 
$\int_C\vec{f}=xe^y$. Remember that the gradient theorem just relates line integrals to 
gradients, but the definition of potential we use includes an additional minus sign, so 
$V(x,y)=-xe^y$.

\end{minipage}}

\end{document}

I've also changed the following in your document:

• Used \centering instead of the center environment. It removes the requirement to insert negative \vspaces;
• Inserted \noindent before the \fcolorbox, since the default is to indent each paragraph with \parindent. This is not needed here; and
• Made length of minipage equivalent to \linewidth-2\fboxsep-2\fboxrule to avoid an overfull \hbox warning - the \fcolorbox adds \fboxsep and \fboxrule on both sides of the box by default.