Hello! I tried today to use named columns for calculations. While this works on the right hand side of the equation, names don't seem to work for the left hand side -- which is a problem, because a change in column arrangement, that isn't caused by org functions (e.g. manually inserting a column with rectangle-copying) may cause an input column to be overwritten accidentially (e.g. having a formula $4=$3*$2+$1 and then manually inserting a column for line markers as described in "Advanced Features").
Exactly this happened to me recently, forcing me to redo some by-hand evaluation. Here some examples to clarify the problem: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recalculation attempts done each with C-u C-c C-c in the table and with C-c C-c in the formula line, and with C-u C-c *. Works fine: | a | b | a+b | |-----+-----+-----| | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2.0 | | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | #+TBLFM: $3=$1+$2;%.1f Doesn't Work: | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | | 1.0 | 1.0 | | | | 1.5 | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | 0.0 | | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $ab=$a+$b Doesn't Work: | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | | 1.0 | 1.0 | | | | 1.5 | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | 0.0 | | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $4=$a+$b Even this doesn't work | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | | 1.0 | 1.0 | | | | 1.5 | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | 0.0 | | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $4=$2+$3 This works again; This is sort of consistent with the specification, that "Unmarked lines are exempt from recalculation with C-u C-c *", but there was no mention, that it affects other methods of causing recalculation too in `(info "(org)")'. | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | * | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2. | | * | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2. | | * | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $4=$2+$3 This again does NOT work. | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | * | 1.0 | 1.0 | | | * | 1.5 | 0.5 | | | * | 0.5 | 0.0 | | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $ab=$2+$3 Works again. | | a | b | a+b | |---+-----+-----+-----| | * | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2. | | * | 1.5 | 0.5 | 2. | | * | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | | ! | a | b | ab | #+TBLFM: $4=$a+$b