Numbers gives syntax error for all equations

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Level 1

10 points

Numbers gives syntax error for all equations

I'm not sure what is going on but I keep getting syntax errors for multiple equations and it doesn't matter where i put it or how, it still gives the syntax error. Example B2 has 500 in it. On B3 I enter B2x2 and it gives a syntax error instead of 1000. I've quit numbers and re-opened the file with same results. I've even opened a new spreadsheet and when entering nothing except those entries, I still get the syntax error. It seems there is something wrong with numbers itself. Can anyone explain why I can't use formulas at all. They used to work in the past so I'm confused what may have happened.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10), null

Posted on Jul 28, 2016 8:41 PM

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Answer 1

daibrahim Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 29, 2016 4:03 AM in response to Barry

Ok that seems to have resolved it. Thanks!

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Answer 2

Jeff Shenk

Level 4

3,005 points

Jul 29, 2016 7:23 AM in response to daibrahim

That's the Character Viewer, which I launch from the flag icon that I put in the Menu bar with a checkbox in System Preferences > Keyboard. You can also launch it in Numbers from the Edit menu > Emoji & Symbols command.

If you are not familiar with using the Character Viewer for access to the vast number of Unicode characters that cannot be entered directly from the keyboard, it might be worth taking a little time to check it out.

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Answer 3

Barry

Level 9

60,023 points

Jul 28, 2016 9:43 PM in response to daibrahim

Hi d',

Did you enter =B2x2 or =B2*2 ?

Numbers will change * to x, but does not appear to recognize x as the multiplication operator when it is entered directly.

Regards,

Barry

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Answer 4

Jeff Shenk

Level 4

3,005 points

Jul 29, 2016 3:30 AM in response to Barry

A minor clarification: Numbers doesn't accept a lowercase X as a multiplication operator, but it does accept the actual multiplication operator that looks similar to an x: