# Why can't I type simple formulas when using transforms? [duplicate]

what its happening here? i just want to rotate R 360/5 but if do that the math function turns in to something like R [1/(360)] even more if i divide by one i get 3282.81º

if i want to do a simple math i need to do R ** <backspace> 360/5 and that way works, but versions ago I only need to type R 360/5 and that was it.

I remember something about this change months ago but i really don't understand it and also didn't find anything at the reference.

Rotation To specify a value for clockwise rotation, press R, (0 - 9), then Return to confirm. To specify counter-clockwise rotation press R, Minus, (kbd:0 - 9), then Return to confirm. Note that 270 degrees of clockwise rotation is equivalent to -90 degrees of counter-clockwise rotation.

## Activate formula mode for the Numeric input

That's because currently the "formula" input (advanced mode) is not active by default. This was made to preserve some old functionalities, like the / shortcut that, as in your case, transforms the number to its inverse.

The rule is that the formula mode becomes active only once the Numpad * (or the =) key has been pressed, so in your case you can type

Or

and all should work as expected.

Here you can find the Sneak Peek video made by Plasmasolutions about the topic.

And here's some lines from the 2.70 release notes abot the UI (see Transform Tools Number Input section):

Number input for tools (when you grab an object for example, you can type indirectly values with the keyboard) has been reworked, you can now use units and Python expressions in it. (87cc890aef53).

We have two "modes", simple and advanced ones, use '=' or 'pad*' to enable advanced mode, and 'ctrl-=' or 'ctrl-pad*' to switch back to simple mode.

Simple mode works nearly like it did before, it only accepts simple numbers, and you can still use '-' to negate and '/' to inverse the value (as well as non-number input shortcuts like XYZ, RSG, etc.). Compared to Blender 2.69 behavior, you can now copy and paste expressions, and navigate in the number you typed, so you can for example fix a typo without having to type everything again.

In advanced mode, we gain more power and flexibility, but lose a few "shortcuts" like '-' to negate, or '/' to inverse

The 3282.81° issue can be explained with the fact that Blender makes some conversions between radiants and degree that, in conbination with the inverse operation, led to an apparently unexpected results.

By default the input for rotation are considered as degree (1° in the depicted case). In randiants would be:

rad(1°) = 0,0174532925199433


When you press / Blender uderstand that it has to caluculate the inverse of your input, so it switchs to radiants to perform the operations. The resulting input now is

1/0,0174532925199433 = 57,2957795130823


And only at this point he perform the degree conversion:

deg(57,2957795130823) = 3282,80635001174°


To avoid this kind of I would suggest to use the advanced mode, where you get expected results:

* 1/1

• aah rigth, now i remember, thanks. now im trying to understand this a bit better, i would think that 360/5 its a simple formula but as you comment advanced mode its not active by default, so in the default mode, what is the simpliest thing that can i do? typing 0 to 9 doesn't do much – Nahuel Belich Dec 24 '15 at 17:49
• Glad it helped! Sorry but I didn't get the last part of your comment. The simplest thing that you can do for...for doing what? – Carlo Dec 24 '15 at 18:00
• to do something, R>45 intro rotates 45 degres that is simple and works, further than that what is it posible to do with the math mode by default? 1/(1)=3282.81º dosn't have any sence to me, i look for it together with "degrees" "radians" "geometry" "math" and didn't get a plausible result to it. the thing is that in mi mind X/Y or X-Y is the simplest thing i can think o and here, in simple mode(the default if i got it right) that doesn't work – Nahuel Belich Dec 24 '15 at 19:06
• As the explanation was quite long, I put that in the answer. In the Simple mode you can only Inverse (/) or the Negate (-) the input number, while in Advanced mode you can write expressions (e.g. 2**2+62*52*(522+6)...), use functions (e.g. sin()...) and use math constants (e.g. pi, e...) – Carlo Dec 24 '15 at 20:24
• The mayor benifits comes from the use of "negation". I often start typing the value without minding the value sign, as I can press "-" anytime to adjust the direction. In advanced mode I would need to navigate till the beginning of the number, slowing me down. I must admit that the use of "/" its a little bit trickier, I probably never used that in simple mode. – Carlo Dec 24 '15 at 20:40