The Commercial Appeal showed the biggest gain of any daily newspaper with a circulation of more than 50,000 in one of two new sets of national circulation figures. But other numbers from the same agency for the same period showed a decrease in circulation for the daily.

The difference is free e-editions of the newspaper.

The numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations cover the six-month period ending in March. And those numbers were compared to the same six-month period that ended in March 2008.

Editor & Publisher, a trade magazine, reported this week that The Commercial Appeal registered a whopping 31 percent increase in circulation. The magazine quoted the newspaper’s management as saying the 192,631 daily average for Monday-Friday was because of a boost in electronic editions of the paper being used in the Newspaper In Education program, which makes newspapers available to educators at reduced rates.

The ABC figures for individually paid circulation, however, tell a different story. In those numbers, The Commercial Appeal circulation was down 14.2 percent from the same period a year before.

The e-Appeal, as it is called, is a digital edition that is a replica of the print version of the paper. The e-Appeal is also free for schools to use, with sponsors paying the cost to make it available.

To further entice teachers to sign up, the CA is giving away projectors that allow teachers to project the digital version of the newspaper on a screen for students to look at as a group. The CA offers the digital version of the newspaper to other consumers for $10 a month. Those who subscribe to the print edition have access to the digital version as part of the subscription price.

The nearest newspaper in terms of the CA’s percentage increase was the Wisconsin State Journal, which showed a 10.32 percent increase.

The new issue of The Memphis News, the weekly sister publication of The Daily News, features a cover story today on how the CA has responded to hard economic times for newspapers, as well as the newspaper’s internal struggle to change.