Hello acrbailey,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you're wondering if there's a way to see the total number of emails in the Inbox in the Mail app on your iPad.
One option is to choose Edit, Select All emails in your Inbox, then mark them as unread in order to view it as an unread email total. Depending on the number of emails in your Inbox, the other option would be to mark all of the emails. This would give you a total based on the number of emails that you've selected:
Organize email in Mail on iPad - Apple Support
- While viewing a list of emails, tap Edit.
- Select the emails you want to move or mark by tapping their checkboxes.
- To select multiple emails quickly, swipe down through the checkboxes.
- Choose the action you want to perform on all the selected emails.
- If you change your mind, immediately swipe left with three fingers to undo."
If you'd like to provide feedback to Apple about this feature, you can do so by visiting the following link:
Feedback - iPad - Apple
Take care.