How to refer back to equations

Question

I am using \begin{equation} \end{equation} to number my equations in my text. But I normally mention these equations in the further text. E.g., In equation 3 ....

But if I change the former equation number I have to search in the text where I mentioned it.

Is there any way to link those numbers so when I change the equation number it automatically changes the furthers mentions about it in the text?

For this you must use \label{eq.foo} and then \eqref{eq.foo}. — Sigur, Jan 20 '16 at 01:12
Welcome! \label{<identifier>} and then \ref{<identifier>}. The first in the equation. The second where you want the cross-reference. — cfr, Jan 20 '16 at 01:12
@AndréGomes, it is any nickname for your equations. You can choose just to refer. Use different ones for different equations. — Sigur, Jan 20 '16 at 01:20

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 20 '16 at 01:20

Something like this?

first is an arbitrary identifier e.g. emc2 or a2o2h2 or whatever will have meaning for you. first is a bad example because the equation might not always be first. While this won't bother LaTeX, it will confuse me!

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
  abc\label{first}
\end{equation}
\ref{first}
\end{document}

If you load amsmath, then you can use \eqref{}:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
  abc\label{first}
\end{equation}
\eqref{first}
\end{document}

cleveref is a popular package for cross-referencing of all kinds:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
  abc\label{first}
\end{equation}
\cref{first}
\end{document}

I prefer fancyref:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fancyref}
\begin{document}
\begin{equation}
  abc\label{eq:first}
\end{equation}
\fref{eq:first}
\end{document}

In this case the eq: part of the identifier tells fancyref what kind of thing is referenced, whereas cleveref tries to figure this out from the context.

How to refer back to equations

1 Answers1