Keep getting syntax errors

Question

When I write formulas, I sometimes get a syntax error. However when I quit Numbers, open my document again, click on the syntax error and then press "enter," the syntax error has been corrected. Because I've done this many times, I know it's not that I'm incorrectly entering the formula. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks!

Answer 1

As you are using Numbers '08, we can't use SUMIFS so :
(1) I will assume that there is a records table for each year.
(2) an auxiliary column (here column D) is required in the main table.
In cells of this auxiliary column, the formula is:
=MONTH(A)&B
Now, I describes the table named "resume"
In the row 1 which is an header one,
cell A1 is blank (it may contain the year)
in cell B1 the formula is :
=MONTHNAME(COLUMN()-1)
and I used fill to the right to get the other names of months.
I used a formula so that the names match the language in use.
In cells A2 thru A7 are the names of recorded items.
In cell B2, the formula is:
=SUMIF(main :: $D,"="&COLUMN()-1&$A,main :: $C)
Then I used fill_down and fillto_theright.
With Numbers '09 we would be allowed to use SUMIFS (which treats several conditions) so it would be easy to test: the year, the month, the item.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) vendredi 26 mars 2010 18:57:15
Oops, I built the doc in Numbers '09 and forgot that MONTHNAME is unavailable in Numbers '08.
So you will have to type the names of months in row 1.
Message was edited by: KOENIG Yvan