Resetting counter

Question

I have created two counters

\newcounter{problem}[section]
\newcounter{solution}[problem]

As expected, problem resets every time section increases.

However, solution does not reset when problem increases.

What is the problem?

Answer 1

You have to use \stepcounter or \refstepcounter to trigger the reset code. If you set the value in other ways then you need to reset the other counter to 0 explicitly.

If you get \endcsname errors that is another problem and probably needs another question. But if you ask a question please give people half a chance of answering it by providing a complete (small) document that produces the error.

Answer 2

I suppose you want to present multiple solutions to a problem? Then you could do it like this:

\documentclass[parskip]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[margin=15mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{tikz}

\newcounter{problem}[section]
\newcounter{solution}[problem]
\renewcommand{\thesolution}{\arabic{problem}.\arabic{solution}}


\begin{document}

\section{one}
\stepcounter{problem}problem \theproblem\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\

\stepcounter{problem}problem \theproblem\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\

\section{one}
\stepcounter{problem}problem \theproblem\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\

\stepcounter{problem}problem \theproblem\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\
\stepcounter{solution}solution \thesolution\\

\end{document}