# Is it possible to use the enumerate/itemize environment within the proof/remark environment in a nice way?

I wish to use the enumerate/itemize environment within the proof/remark environment, but when I do this the first number/bullet-point is on the same line as the word 'Remark'/'Proof' indented to the right, and all subsequent number/bullet-points are all aligned nicely below.

I think it looks a bit clumsy. I tried adding a double backslash immediately after \begin{proof} but sometimes this means I have the word Proof at the bottom of a page and on the next page the bullet points start, which looks terrible. Is there a way round this?

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here's how it works with amsthm (quoted from the ams author faq):

"When a theorem (proof) begins with a list, how do I keep the first item from running together with the theorem (proof) heading?"

\begin{environment}\leavevmode
\begin{enumerate}\item ...


this will start the list on the next line after the heading.

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One might ask whether a proof consisting of a long enumerated list (with its shifted margin) makes for good typesetting. And for better understanding as well. – egreg Jun 12 '12 at 13:50
@egreg -- didn't say it was a good idea, but an awful lot of authors do it ... – barbara beeton Jun 12 '12 at 13:52
When I'm in charge of the editing, this is one of the first things I remove. "We shall divide the proof into four steps.\par Step 1. ...\par Step 2. ..." or similar. The indent and "Step n" are sufficient to give the required emphasis. – egreg Jun 12 '12 at 13:56
@egreg -- ams copyeditors make the suggestion to add prefatory text, which improves the appearance. but more important is the fact that enumerate allows one to use a \label and \ref to produce automatically numbered cross-references elsewhere; this reduces the chance for error, especially in books or long articles. – barbara beeton Jun 12 '12 at 15:22
\newenvironment{steps}{\setcounter{step}{0}}{} \newcounter{step} \newcommand{\proofstep}{\par\refstepcounter{step}Step~\thestep.\space\ignorespa‌​ces}: this improves consistency. :) – egreg Jun 12 '12 at 15:28

You can use the enumerate environment without the paralist package, like this:

\begin{enumerate}[\hspace{0.25cm} 1. ]
\item $\nabla f(x^)=0$
\item $\nabla^2 f(x^)>0$ (positiva definida)
\end{enumerate}

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Just write \mbox{} after \begin{proof} or \begin{remark}. If you wish not to have a page break between proof (remark) heading and proof (remark) content, which is only (starts immediately with) your list, then add the \nolisttopbreak macro below. Or combine \mbox and \nolisttopbreak in a new proof environment.

\makeatletter
\makeatother

\newenvironment{listproof}[1][\proofname]{\begin{proof}[#1]\mbox{}\nolisttopbreak}{\end{proof}}


\leavevmode seem to have the same effect as \mbox{}, i.e. page breaks are not suppressed.

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I use the following environment:

\usepackage{paralist}

\begin{proof}
Seja $f: R^n \mapsto R$ duas vezes diferenci\'avel sobre um dom\'inio $S \in R^n$. Se $x^* \in S$ \'e tal que
\vspace{0.2cm}
\begin{compactenum}[\hspace{0.25cm} 1. ]
\item $\nabla f(x^*)=0$
\item $\nabla^2 f(x^*)>0$ (positiva definida)
\end{compactenum}
\vspace{0.2cm}
ent\~ao $x^*$ \'e um m\'inimo local forte de $f$.

\end{proof}


It works well.

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