# How can I position equation numbers always to the left side?

Equations and amsmath environments put equation numbers to the right side by default, the output of

\begin{multline}
some equation
\end{multline}


is:

equation (number)


How can I change it this way:

(number) equation

• do you want only the numbers left or also all equations left aligned? The multline environment is by default left aligned with its first line but not the other environments, like align – user2478 Nov 21 '11 at 7:18

Pass the option leqno to your document class, to be used by the class and also inherited by packages, such as the amsmath package. It would already work if you would specify the option directly to amsmath, however for consistency I would already use it at class level.

\documentclass[leqno]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{multline}
some equation
\end{multline}
\end{document}


leqno means left equation numbers.

• Thanks for the answer. Suppose I want to number only particular equations on the left (rest all in right), then how can I do so? – Abhimanyu Arora Sep 20 '14 at 12:45
• @AbhimanyuArora Bit late, but there's this. Doesn't work properly for me since the numbering overlaps with the equation if it's too long, but it's a start. – G. Bach Jul 18 '17 at 9:01