Separate labels in cases
You can use numcases
from the cases
package if you want each case labelled as a separate equation. There is also the subnumcases
environment which gives you an alternative labelling:
\documentclass[preview]{standalone}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{cases}
\begin{document}
\begin{numcases}{f(x)=}
1 & $x\geq0$ \label{positive}
\\
0 & $x<0$ \label{negative}
\end{numcases}
See the second case \ref{negative} or the first \ref{positive}
\begin{subnumcases}{f(x)=}
1 & $x\geq0$ \label{positive-subnum}
\\
0 & $x<0$ \label{negative-subnum}
\end{subnumcases}
See the second case \ref{negative-subnum} or the first \ref{positive-subnum}
\end{document}
Using only the amsmath
package and no additional packages, it is possible with some box manipulation:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amsmath
\begin{document}
\newsavebox{\mycases}% Store case "title" and brace
\begin{align}
\sbox{\mycases}{$\displaystyle f(x)=\left\{\begin{array}{@{}c@{}}\vphantom{1\ x\geq0}\\\vphantom{0\ x<0}\end{array}\right.\kern-\nulldelimiterspace$}
\raisebox{-.5\ht\mycases}[0pt][0pt]{\usebox{\mycases}}1 \quad x\geq0\label{positive} \\
0 \quad x<0\label{negative}
\end{align}
\end{document}
You can do this by the empheq package from the mh bundle.
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{empheq} % loads »mathtools«, which in turn loads »amsmath«
\begin{document}
\begin{empheq}[left={f(x)=\empheqlbrace}]{align}
1 &\quad x\geq0\label{positive}\\
0 &\quad x<0\label{negative}
\end{empheq}
\end{document}