Syntax Error

The problem I see is your formula is in the cell "budget refrigerator" (cell C2) and is referencing itself which is a big no no. When I do that I get a strange error of "Budget Refrigerator cannot be used as a single value" as I am writing the formula but as soon as I hit Enter it switches to the correct error of "this formula can't reference its own cell". The formula works correctly if it is in a different cell

Could you give an example with screenshot showing your formula? shift-command-4, drag to select area, release, start new message here and use the mountains and moon Image Insertion icon to insert the screenshot from the Desktop.

SG

PS: Part of SG's post above is a short version of the steps needed to take a screen shot showing only part of the screen.

Here's a more detailed version:

shift-command-4, drag to select area, release

Set up the items that will be shown inthe shot (open the Formula Editor to display the formula, then move the editor to a position not covering any of the cells involved in the formula.

Place the pointer at one corner of the intended screen shot (I usually start at top left)

Press shift-command-4. (the pointer will change to a crosshairs icon)

Press the mouse button and drag the crosshair to the opposite corner of the area to be captured (bottom right in my usual case)

Release the mouse button to take the shot of everything inside the rectangle.

The screen show will be saved to your desktop with the filename "screenshot" followed by the date and time it was taken.

In your message:

Put the insertion point where you want to insert the image. click the mountains and moon icon in the row below the composition box to insert the image.

Regards,

Barry

Hi Oumie,

I don't see any evidence of a syntax error in the typed formula, but I do see an anomaly in Numbers' interpretation of what you typed.

Numbers has displayed the first cell reference (C2) to display the names of the column (Budget) and row (Refrigerator), but has not made the similar 'Actual Refrigerator' conversion to the second cell reference (D2).

What I would expect to see when looking at the formula, as displayed in the formula editor would be more like this:

Try deleting the formula (click once to select the cell containing the formula, then press delete),

Then type = to open the editor, and re-enter the same formula.

Regards,

Barry

Please include a plain text copy of the formula, typed into a text box or directly into your reply, showing the formula as it was typed, in addition to the one showing how Numbers interpreted it when entered.

Regards,

Barry