latex - getting specific problem number

Question

i wanted to do the following... Problem 3.

in latex i use the following

          \newtheorem{prob}{Problem}
          \begin{prob} 
          ...
          \end{prob}

it starts as follows Problem 1., is it possible to to Problem 3. instead,... can you show me how? thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Use the \setcounter macro:

\setcounter{counter}{value}

Be careful that the value is zero-based, so Problem 1 corresponds to a counter value of 0.

For example, to start with Problem 3:

\newtheorem{prob}{Problem}
\setcounter{prob}{2}
\begin{prob}
  ... 
\end{prob}