Column of ascending numbers?

In one cell type a starting number. In the same column but one row down enter another value in your sequence. select both cells, then grab (select and hold the little circle at the bottome right of the selection) and drag down to fill:

you can use a similar technique for horizontal fills. You can also enter 0 in one cell, then 2 in the next and Numbers will fill by 2s. You can also enter dates, days of the week by entering the first two then fill based on that pattern.

Another way is to enter a starting value, then entering a formula in the next cell (let's say you wanted you count by threes starting at 2):

enter "2" in cell A1

shorthand is:

A1=2

A2=A1+3

select A2 and fill down:

Hi Dan,

You mentioned that you had 'searched high and low in iWork Help' for this. While that's usually a good place to start, I'd suggest using the two downloadable resources listed in the Help menu instead.

The Numbers '09 User Guide offers a readable overview of Numbers, a guide to the available tools, and several pieces of information on how Numbers 'works.' The information you're looking for is in Chapter 4, Working with Table Cells, in an article titled "Autofilling Table Cells." A search for 'autofill' will take you to it pretty quickly.

The iWork Formulas and Functions User Guide is useful as a reference guide if you're writing formulas. It lists all the functions supported in Numbers (and the other iWork applications), with a description of what it does, a syntax model, and one or more examples of how to use it. For another approach to your current question, take a look at the ROW() and COLUMN() functions.

Regards,

Barry