can't use forward slash in numbers

Barry wrote:

I'm wondering if this should be regarded as a piece of poor design, considering the difficulty visually distinguishing between the + and ÷ signs, and be made the subject of a Numbers Feedback message to Apple requesting reversion to the / being displayed as the division operator.

Hi Barry and others,

So you guys are actually suggesting marooning Numbers on the Mac with the outdated and ambiguous symbol when the world is going increasingly mobile and professional mobile computing devices have been using a proper division symbol for decades!🙂

Here's Numbers on iOS (on a screen larger than most laptops).

The main reason the / slash was used in the first place is because keyboards couldn't cram in enough keys to to support ÷ .

The / could mean many things while the ÷ obelus symbol is concise, precise, and clear. I say keep it!

SG

Yellowbox wrote:

Is there a way to use AppleScript to insert an enlarged (Text) facsimile of a cell formula into another table so that we who need glasses can distinguish between ÷ and +?

Hi Ian,

It turns out there is a way ...

1. Copy-paste script into Script Editor (in Applications > Utilities).
2. Click in cell with a formula to enlarge.
3. Click the triangle 'run' button in Script Editor.

This was surprisingly easy. Of course, pending a new eyeglass prescription, it might be even easier to fish a magnifying glass out of a drawer.🙂

SG

property fontSize : 50

property formulaWidth : 500

tell application "Numbers"

tell front document to tell active sheet

tell (first table whose selection range's class is range)

tell selection range's first cell

if its formula is not missing value then

set f to its formula

set a to its name

end if

end tell

end tell

set myTable to makenewtablewith properties {row count:2, column count:2, header column count:0}

tell myTable

set column 1's width to 125

set column 2's width to formulaWidth

set row 1's cell 1's value to "Cell"

set row 1's cell 2's value to "Formula"

set row 2's cell 1's value to a

set row 2's cell 2's value to "'" & f

set rows's font size to fontSize

end tell

end tell

end tell

I'm wondering if this should be regarded as a piece of poor design, considering the difficulty visually distinguishing between the + and ÷ signs, and be made the subject of a Numbers Feedback message to Apple requesting reversion to the / being displayed as the division operator.

Regards,

Barry

Hi SG,

An interesting discussion! Is there a way to use AppleScript to insert an enlarged (Text) facsimile of a cell formula into another table so that we who need glasses can distinguish between ÷ and +?

Regards,

Ian.

Or if you want more control over formatting for tired eyes, you can have a script display the enlarged formula in a text box.

By removing the -- before the seventh to last line in the script you can banish the obelus (÷) entirely and replace it with the slash (/).

I didn't try replacing 'x' with '*' because 'x' could appear elsewhere in a formula.

One could also set the orientation to vertical as in your user tip but that might make the obelus even less recognizable.🙂

Have fun!

SG

property fontSize : 50

property symbolFontSize : 60

property formulaWidth : 500

tell application "Numbers"

tell front document to tell active sheet

tell (first table whose selection range's class is range)

tell selection range's first cell

if its formula is missing value then

return

else

set f to its formula

set a to its name

end if

end tell

end tell

set myTextItem to makenewtext itemwith properties ¬

{object text:f, width:400, position:{10, 10}}

tell myTextItem

tell object text

set size to 50

set theChars to characters

repeat with c from 1 to count theChars

if (theChars's item c) is "÷" then

set characterc'ssize to symbolFontSize

set character c's color to "red"

set character c to "/"

end if

end repeat

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

the forward slash works but Numbers now shows the operator as a traditional vision symbol that, unfortunately, looks like a plus when you don't inspect it very carefully:

I typed:

=1/7

Hi dk,

OK.

You only need to use HYPERLINK if you want to place the link 'behind' other text. Here's the article on HYPERLINK from the Function Browser:

The HYPERLINK function creates a clickable link that opens a webpage or new email message.

HYPERLINK(url, link-text)

• url: A standard universal resource locator. url is a string value that must contain a properly formatted universal resource locator string.
• link-text: An optional string value that specifies the text that appears as a clickable link in the cell. If link-text is omitted, url is used as link-text.

"string value" and "string" are both short for "text string".

When you are in the Formula editor, numbers will interpret a / as a division operator, and immediately substitute the division sign. What is accomplished by enclosing the url in quotes is to force Numbers to treat what is enclosed as a literal text string.

If you do not need the link-text string to be displayed in place of the link itself, try typing the link directly into the cell (without including HYPERLINK) Numbers is capable of recognizing the string as a link, and displaying the active link in the cell.

Regards,

Barry

I'm for using characters I can read. Apple can use what ever character they want. Until apple change from the slash to the traditional division symbol I never had trouble discriminating the addition from the division operation-- there were also not any questions about this

Wayne Contello wrote:

I'm for using characters I can read.

Me too, of course. But after my first encounter with it in Numbers over two years ago I can read the obelus just fine here, especially since I'm expecting to see it whenever there is something related to division, used consistently, whatever the device, so there's no guess-work involved.

However, if I really did have trouble reading it even in spots where I know I should be expecting it, I would consider 1) updating my eyeglass prescription and/or 2) getting more devices that sport a retina display.

I would guess Apple would not be unhappy with more people choosing 2.🙂

SG

Given context, / is no more ambiguous than -. I've yet to see a question in this forum (or in its earlier versions, going back to ClarisWorks)

"Here's Numbers on iOS (on a screen larger than most laptops)."

On a "screen larger than most laptops," showing the character on a larger than text on-screen key pad isn't where the confusion and difficulty is distinguishing between + and ÷ occurs.

"The main reason the / slash was used in the first place is because keyboards couldn't cram in enough keys to to support ÷ ."

An excellent reason for omitting the obelus from keyboards at that time. After all, the solidus was already well established as a division sign in hand written documents (as was it's horizontal counterpart, the fraction line).

"The / could mean many things while the ÷ obelus symbol is concise, precise, and clear. I say keep it!"

Concise? No more so than the single stroke of the solidus.

Precise? True today, but it started out as a symbol for subtraction (a function that in some northern countries was dropped relatively recently—around the beginning of the 1900s), and as an editing symbol marking suspect text. Within the context that it is used, its no more precise than the solidus.

Clear? If it were, Wayne would not be remarking on the number of questions appearing singe the change.

Now, about the * and x brouhaha…..😉

Regards,

Barry

JoniTilt wrote:

Maybe Excel should use a division sign, or both programs should both use the same thing for consistency.

Yes, that is undoubtedly the problem, that many people (like me) come to Numbers from Excel and are conditioned to see the / and when it's not there assume something "must be wrong."

Excel has kept the / in both the Windows/Mac versions and the mobile version. The mobile keyboard for Excel has many more keys than Numbers. Both approaches seem really well done to me, so it's a matter of needs and taste.

Anyway, now that you know about / vs ÷ in Numbers, the chances are your brain will "see" division even if your eyes don't necessarily make out those little dots clearly.

SG

Barry wrote:

Precise? True today, but it started out as a symbol for subtraction (a function that in some northern countries was dropped relatively recently—around the beginning of the 1900s), and as an editing symbol marking suspect text. Within the context that it is used, its no more precise than the solidus.

Clear? If it were, Wayne would not be remarking on the number of questions appearing singe the change.

Now, about the * and x brouhaha…..😉

Hi Barry,

I just knew somebody would point out that ÷ once stood for subtraction (or redaction from text) and expose my rhetorical flourish about concision for the fallacy that it was (one stroke for a slash of course being more concise than a stroke and two dots)! 🙂

As for * versus x, that's a tough one: I can live with either but (admittedly inconsistent with my stance on ÷) think I prefer * for its lack of ambiguity even though x has a long tradition and has long been used on professional mobile computing devices.

As we (at least in theory) move away from full keyboards over time perhaps future symbols will be communicated to our devices as a sequence of special swipes, or distinctive grunts, or blinks of the eye.

SG

Hi dk',

Under what circumstances does this happen? What version of Numbers? What OS version?

Can you supply a screenshot?

I did a brief check (Numbers 3.6.2, OS X 10.11.6 el Capitan) by typing a made up URL into a cell. It was recognized as a URL, formatted correctly and unchanged from what I had typed.

Regards,

Barry

PS: Check System Preferences>Keyboard>Text. You may have listed this as a Text Substitution.

B

So, actually, I just solved it. When I put in =HYPERLINK and copy/pasted the link to the formula, it changed the forward slash. So for example:

http://www.apple.com/dk changed to http:÷÷www.apple.com÷dk

I found out that you have to wrap the link with " so for example:

"http://www.apple.com/dk" will not change the / to ÷ and the link works.