Create a list of figures, equations and other items
This is a typical use case for views. 

If I understand your requirements correctly, you need to do the following:


create a block in views (see http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/drupal-7/views-module-tutorial/create-block-display)
assign that block to the region you want it to appear in your default theme (Structure -> Blocks), see https://drupal.org/documentation/modules/block


You can also restrict the pages on which the block should appear.