Chapter in front matter creates numbering discrepancy

[ksk...@gmail.com]

I have a book with some (decorative parts) plus an introductory chapter with things like notation conventions. It is distinct from the preface.

My preference would be to put this chapter in the front matter, but this creates a numbering discrepancy: with the default of numbering starting at 1, this shows up as Chapter 1 in the HTML and Chapter 0 in the LaTeX. If I change the numbering to start at 0, this shows up as Chapter 0 in the HTML and Chapter -1 in the LaTeX, so in both cases it is the LaTeX version that is not numbering according to specifications.

There are other ways to deploy this chapter (e.g., in its own Part 0, or as a separate chapter not included in a part). But putting it in the front matter should either work correctly (with consistent numbering) or be deprecated/disallowed.

Best,

Kiran

[Rob Beezer]

Dear Kiran,

Sorry for the delay, I've been away for a few days.

Our model for a document/book does not provide for a #chapter in the
#frontmatter. So it is not a big surprise that numbering is not behaving. We
also do not provide for a #chapter that is not in a #part, when parts are being
used. And I'm not sure we have a facility for "Part 0" either.

Here is a suggestion which might work. Use a #preface as the mark-up for your
material. But give it the #title "Chapter 0". Certainly an #xref into this
material will behave oddly. Also, numbers for material here (say a #remark)
will not behave either. And I can't promise that all conversions will behave
acceptably, now or in the future. For example, placement of your Chapter 0 in
the HTML sidebar table-of-contents will look a bit odd (or maybe not!).

Rob

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[ksk...@gmail.com]

I did try putting it in as a separate chapter not in a part, and while the numbering works okay the HTML display is not ideal (it displays like a part rather than a chapter). I don't see an explicit statement in the "divisions" documentation that you can't have both chapters in parts and chapters not in parts, but I agree that it is a corollary of the rule that "Divisions must nest properly and may not be skipped."

The reason I didn't try making it a #preface is that I already have a #preface ("about this document") which is distinct from the Chapter 0 ("about the mathematics in this document"). But now that I am reading the documentation more closely, I see that multiple #preface elements are explicitly allowed and can have their own titles.

I did have to change the #section subdivisions within Chapter 0 to #paragraphs, but that was an easy enough fix. Fortunately there are no xrefs into Chapter 0, so one fewer thing to worry about.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Best,
Kiran

[Rob Beezer]

Dear Kiran,

Great! Glad to hear that is working. Thanks for the reporting back.

Yes, #paragraphs is the suggested way to divide up a #preface, so that will work
well long-term.

Rob

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