How to count the page number using Arabic numbers from the first page in Latex

Question

I recently got a template for my report. It has a cls file defining several attributes of the template. However, I found that the table of contents and abstract are numbered using Roman numbers rather than the Arabic numbers. My intention is to count the page number from the first page using Arabic numbers, including the cover page, the abstract and the table of contents. I guess I should modify the cls file or add some new commands but I have no idea how to do. I would be grateful if you could help me !

Answer 1

For documentclasses that work similar to the standard classes, you can put

\mainmatter

after \begin{document} to switch to Arabic numerals and avoid restarting the numbering.

(before you do that, check with the guidelines for your report. The numbering you currently have is actually pretty much the standard in many countries)