Page numbering conventions

Position	Common use
Bottom center	Academic papers, reports, theses
Bottom outside	Books (left on even pages, right on odd)
Top right	Business documents, manuscripts
Top outside (alternating)	Books, journals

Front matter pagination

Many documents use Roman numerals (i, ii, iii...) for front matter (table of contents, preface, acknowledgments) and Arabic numerals starting at 1 for the main content. The title page is usually counted as page i but the number is not displayed.

Typography considerations

The standard typeface for page numbers in professional documents is the same font as the body text, set in a smaller size (typically 9–10pt for an 11–12pt body). Avoid decorative or display fonts for page numbers - they distract from the content.

Oldstyle figures (numerals with descenders, like those in Garamond or Palatino) are preferred in book typography for page numbers because they integrate better with surrounding text. Lining figures (same height as capitals) are standard in business and academic documents.

ISO and legal document standards

Some document types have specific page numbering requirements:

ISO standards: page numbers are in the upper right corner on the same line as the document number.
US legal court filings: some courts require line numbers in the left margin in addition to page numbers; others require specific margin sizes around the number.
Technical manuals (e.g. MIL-SPEC): numbered per chapter: 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-2 to allow section replacement without renumbering the whole document.