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Help! I am a primary teacher and I am trying to make 3 columns of questions like this one! I have figured out how to write a 1 column but I need to replicate this with 3 columns in total.

Ruthie Sloan
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    Related: http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/309961/pencil-and-paper-subtraction-in-latex, http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/213357/addition-with-3-elements-using-xlop, http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/11702/how-to-present-a-vertical-multiplication-addition (still looking for more...) – Steven B. Segletes Aug 03 '16 at 20:30
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    You should take a look at the tasks package: it's designed for this sort of things. – Bernard Aug 03 '16 at 20:36

2 Answers2

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I am all for encouraging the use of LaTeX in schools, so here is one way of solving your problem -- even though you have not given a minimal working example to show what you have tried:)

I would use the multicol package together with a little macro for typesetting each problem:

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Here is the latex code:

\documentclass{amsart}
\usepackage{enumitem}

\usepackage{multicol}
% Usage: \Problem{n}{operation}{m}
\newcommand\Problem[3]{$\begin{array}[t]{r}#1\\#2#3\\\hline\quad\end{array}$}

\begin{document}

  \begin{multicols}{3}
    \begin{enumerate}[label=\arabic*)]
      \item \Problem{8}-{6}
      \item \Problem{40}+{39}
      \item \Problem{56}-{23}
      \item \Problem{87}-{54}
      \item \Problem{35}+{72}
      \item \Problem{59}-{3}
      \item \Problem{37}-{32}
      \item \Problem{13}-{4}
      \item \Problem{3}\times{3}
    \end{enumerate}
  \end{multicols}

\end{document}

The multicols environment puts everything into three columns. If, instead, you wanted two columns then you could change \begin{multicols}{3} to \begin{multicols}{2}. I am using the enumitem package to set the labels to the ones you have in your post (this is done by the label=\arabic*) after the \begin{enumerate}. This is overkill but I like enumitem.

Finally, the \Problem macro is used to typeset the problem. It takes three arguments, n, the operation and m and then creates a one column array to "draw" the corresponding problem. Using the macro makes it much easier to typeset and proof-read your questions.

Community
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  • YOU ARE AWESOME! I am not by any means someone who seriously knows how to do this....I teach Kindergarten and am doing research on Spatial reasoning.... I am trying to put this sheet together digitally and discovered this as the best alternative-however there is a learning curve. I am grateful! – Ruthie Sloan Aug 04 '16 at 12:15
  • @RuthieSloan Glad to help:) There is a learning curve...but once you get there it will save you time. –  Aug 04 '16 at 15:52
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enter image description here

No laughing....I have been trouble shooting and sifting through Q&A to try this!

Ruthie Sloan
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