JoniTilt

Q: can't use forward slash in numbers

I am having a very strange problem in Numbers, after updating my system to El Capitan yesterday. I am trying to do a simple division in numbers but every time I type the forward slash to divide, it puts in a plus sign, so I can't get it to work at all. I've tried it in Excel and it works fine. I have tried using both the forward slash under the question mark, and the one on the numbers keypad. When I copy the formula into numbers from word, in changes the slash to a plus sign again.

 

What do I do now?

 

Thanks for any help.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), null

Posted on Jan 6, 2016 9:16 AM

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Q: can't use forward slash in numbers

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  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Jan 8, 2016 5:03 AM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,435 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 8, 2016 5:03 AM in response to SGIII

    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 +?

    Screen Shot 2016-01-09 at 12.01.31 am.png

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Jan 8, 2016 10:19 AM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (10,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 8, 2016 10:19 AM in response to Yellowbox

    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 ...

     

    Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 1.08.10 PM.png

     

     

    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 make new table with 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

  • by SGIII,

    SGIII SGIII Jan 8, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Yellowbox
    Level 6 (10,627 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 8, 2016 1:58 PM in response to Yellowbox

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

     

    Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 4.42.39 PM.png

     

     

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

     

    Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 4.48.58 PM.png

     

     

     

    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 make new text item with 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 character c's size 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

  • by Yellowbox,

    Yellowbox Yellowbox Jan 8, 2016 11:05 PM in response to SGIII
    Level 6 (10,435 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 8, 2016 11:05 PM in response to SGIII

    Hi SG,

     

    Both scripts work well!

     

    Regards,

    Ian.

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