## Section16.1<exercise> structure

An <exercise> can be rather freeform, containing elements such as <p>, <figure>, <image>, etc. However, an author will typically think about an exercise as having an associated correct answer, perhaps with a hint or a detailed solution. PreTeXt has tags to support that sort of content, but it does require that your <exercise> be structured. This is nearly identical to the structure of a project-like element.

The code in Listing 16.1.1 produces the following output:

The <statement> is mandatory when any of <hint>, <answer>, or <solution> is included as a child of <exercise>, otherwise it may be omitted.

Hint.

Optional. Just an suggestion of what to try.

Solution.

Optional. All the gory details.

Note that you can have multiple <hint>, <answer>, and <solution> elements. But you must put all the <hint>s first, then all the <answer>s, and then all the <solution>s. There are a variety of options for determining where hints, answers, and solutions appear (at all). Check Section 5.5 for information about stringparams.

An <exercise> can also have a more complicated structure that assigns a sequence of steps for a student to complete. PreTeXt provides the same <task> tag that is used in project-like elements to give structure to such an <exercise>.

The code in Listing 16.1.3 produces the following output:

Here is where we give the student the background information required to start accomplishing tasks.

#### (a)

The first step to do.

Hint.

A little hint.

Solution.

All the glorious details about how to do the first step.

#### (b)

The second step to do. We'll be lazy and just include an answer.