Increment counter by 2 in tasks package

Question

I am using the tasks package to layout answers to exercises. However the exercises are numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. Of course tasks wants to increment by 1 to get 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Is there anyway to set a increment value for tasks?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tasks}
\begin{document}
\begin{tasks}label=\arabic*
   \task $x^2$
   \task $y^5$
   \task $a^5$
   \task $b^5$
   \task $c^5$
   \task $d^5$
   \end{tasks}
\end{document}

You could add \stepcounter{task} to the second and following task items. — Cicada, May 28 '23 at 05:44
please always provide an example. You say "Of course tasks wants to increment by 1 to get 1,2,3,4, etc" but I did not get 1,2,3 from `\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tasks}

\begin{document} \begin{tasks}(3) \task $x^2$ \task $y^5$ \task $a^5$ \task $b^5$ \task $c^5$ \task $d^5$ \end{tasks} \end{document}` — David Carlisle, May 28 '23 at 12:33
You're absolutely right, by default it goes, a), b), c) etc. I updated the code to give a compete example that uses arabic instead. — rhody, May 28 '23 at 22:07

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 29 '23 at 08:12

When the value for label has the form \foo*, tasks will apply \foo to the default counter. Define a command that does simple arithmetic with the counter's value.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tasks}
\NewExpandableDocumentCommand{\makeodd}{m}{%
  \inteval{2*\value{#1}-1}%
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tasks}label=\makeodd*
  \task $x^2$
  \task $y^5$
  \task $a^5$
  \task $b^5$
  \task $c^5$
  \task $d^5$
\end{tasks}
\end{document}

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 28 '23 at 22:13

Using the stepcounter idea by Circada in their comment we get what we're looking for. Better than adding the numbers manually using \task[number]. It's easier to add new entries without manually renumbering everything.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tasks}
\begin{document}
\begin{tasks}label=\arabic*
  \task $x^2$ 
  \task $y^5$ \stepcounter{task}
  \task $a^5$ \stepcounter{task}
  \task $b^5$ \stepcounter{task}
  \task $c^5$ \stepcounter{task}
  \task $d^5$ \stepcounter{task}
\end{tasks}
\end{document}

Use \refstepcounter{task} if you need to make a cross-reference to an item with label/ref. — Cicada, May 29 '23 at 01:53

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered May 29 '23 at 04:54

Musing arithmetically,

MWE

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tasks}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand { \makeodd } { m } {
    \int_set:Nn \l_tmpa_int { \value{#1} }
    \int_eval:n {
      \l_tmpa_int + \l_tmpa_int -1
    }
}
\ExplSyntaxOff
\begin{document}
Since the set of natual numbers is infinite, and the set of odd numbers is also infinite, one can be mapped to the other (in this case, via $n*2-1$) to display odd-numbered labels in the enumerate-style task list without needing to change the actual task number.
For the case where the start value for the list numbering is 1, the calculation \texttt{\textbackslash makeodd}, in expl3 syntax
\begin{quotation}\noindent
\begin{verbatim}
\NewDocumentCommand { \makeodd } { m } {
    \int_set:Nn \l_tmpa_int { \value{#1} }
    \int_eval:n {
      \l_tmpa_int + \l_tmpa_int -1
    }
}
\end{verbatim}
\end{quotation}
and called via the \verb|tasks| environment's \verb|label=| option,
\begin{quotation}\noindent
\verb|label={(\makeodd*)},|
\end{quotation}
gives:
\begin{tasks}%
                    style=enumerate,
       label={(\makeodd*)},
       label-width=4ex,
%       start = {20},
       
  \task $xx^2$ 
  \task $xy^5$ 
  \task $xa^5$ 
  \task $xb^5$ 
  \task $xc^5$ 
  \task $xd^5$ 
\end{tasks}
\end{document}

Increment counter by 2 in tasks package

3 Answers3

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