There are many versions of Mahabharatham in Sanskrit itself and the number of slokams contained in it totally ranges between eighty thousand to more than one and half lakhs.
There are versions of Ramayanam attributed to Valmiki discovered or published in different geographical areas, and in different centres of learning.. the number of Slokas vary substantially from about just above 20000 to 30000
This is the case with many ancient texts.
And in some texts, the Slokas are numbered differently too. For example in certain texts even ardha slokas are given one count, whereas in some cases even three or four lines are combined into a single sloka number.
Therefore the Number of Slokams, the Slokam number given as reference etc would vary. And in some slokams there could be minor rearrangement of words or letters too.
Noramally we read ancient texts as they come, and use the numbers as we get in the version we lay our hands upon
And in research articles and dissertations, when sloka numbers are given usually the edition, source of the text, the year of publication etc of the text too are mentioned.
But in general discussions, such hairsplitting is uncalled for. The number and annotation given in the available text can be used for reference purposes.
One chapter in Ramayanam might contain 43 slokas according to one version, 44 according to another and 46 according to yet another edition.
I ensure that I have seen and referred to the text I use, when I mention a sloka number. I can go back to that text for my own reference at any point of time
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