You can put different captions in the List of Figures by including an optional argument of the
\caption command: \begin{figure}
...
... |<----- optional argument of \caption ----->|
\caption[This is what shows up in the List of Figures.]{Here is the text
that appears under the Figure itself. This text is often very long and
complicated, and is only useful when you've got the Figure sitting right
there in front of you. It won't mean much to anyone just reading the
List of Figures.}
\label{example-fig}
\end{figure}
B)
So to get fragile stuff like equation references in the caption, try this:
\begin{figure}
...
\caption{The graph of the function given in (\protect \ref{some-eqn}).}
\end{figure}
Notice that to get parentheses around the number, like "(7)", the\protectstatement has to go inside the
().
Source: http://www.iam.ubc.ca/old_pages/newbury/tex/captions.html#different
