# Change equation numbering without changing labels

The crux of the issue is I want to refer to some equations as "Equation 1" in the body of the text. However, the actual numbering of the equations I want to appear as a right justified "eq. 1". Below is what I currently have.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{cleveref}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{ {./images/} }

%\def\theequation{eq. \arabic{equation}}

\begin{document}
Blah blah blah (\autoref{eq:nitrate_intro}). Also blah blah,
\autoref{eq:reduce_intro}.

\label{eq:nitrate_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{nitration_intro.png}
\label{eq:reduce_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{reduction_intro.png}
\end{document}


This is almost perfect. The only extra thing I need (for points) is to change the equation numbering from "(1)" to "(eq. 1)". I commented out this bit of code

\def\theequation{eq. \arabic{equation}}


The problem with that is that it makes the labels turn into "Equation eq. 1". Below is an example with the \def\theequation line uncommented.

Welcome to TeX-SE! \newtagform from mathtools allows you to do that.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{ {./images/} }
\usepackage{mathtools}
\newtagform{FG}{(eq.\ }{)}
\usetagform{FG}
\usepackage{cleveref}

%\def\theequation{eq. \arabic{equation}}

\begin{document}
Blah blah blah (\autoref{eq:nitrate_intro}). Also blah blah,
\autoref{eq:reduce_intro}.

\label{eq:nitrate_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{example-image-a}
\label{eq:reduce_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{example-image-b}
\end{document}


If you want to confine this effect to these equations, you can switch back to normal with \usetagform{default}.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\graphicspath{ {./images/} }
\usepackage{mathtools}
\newtagform{FG}{(eq.\ }{)}
\usepackage{cleveref}

%\def\theequation{eq. \arabic{equation}}

\begin{document}
Blah blah blah (\autoref{eq:nitrate_intro}). Also blah blah,
\autoref{eq:reduce_intro}.\usetagform{FG}

\label{eq:nitrate_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{example-image-a}
\label{eq:reduce_intro} \includegraphics[scale=0.3, valign=c]{example-image-b}
\usetagform{default}

\end{document}