Creating front and back matter

In contrast to reports, books often begin with introductory material such as copyright information, a foreword, acknowledgments, or a dedication. This part, including the title page and the table of contents, is called the front matter.

At the end, a book might include an afterword and supporting material such as a bibliography and an index. This part is called the back matter.

The book class and some other classes, such as scrbook and memoir, support this kind of sectioning directly. Often, desired consequences of this sectioning are differences in the numbering of pages and chapters. Let's see how it works.

Our book will begin with a dedication. The front matter will consist of the table of contents, lists of tables and figures, and a dedication. All the pages of the front matter will be numbered with Roman numerals. Finally, we add an appendix providing supplementary proofs, which we like to present outside the main chapters:

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