How an answer was read

Varlig reads ordinary writing, so now and then you’ll want to know exactly what it made of a line: which name it used, whether 05/06/2026 was May or June, where a rate came from, or why a line that looks fine shows an error.

Every answer can tell you. Right-click an answer — or a calculation line — and choose How Was This Read?…. An answer that is an error opens the same explanation when you click it. On iPhone and iPad, touch and hold an answer, or tap an error.

The explanation has a section for each thing that affected the answer, in this order:

Section	What it tells you
Read As	The expression Varlig understood, with the parts it used
Answer	The answer, and the line’s own value when the line is a running total
Uses	Each name the line used, its value and where it came from
Used By	The lines in this note that use this one
Used by 2 Notes	The other notes that use the value or function this line defines
Treated as Text	The words on the line that took no part in the sum
Units	What each unit measures, such as `MB — information, 1,000,000 bytes`
Dates	How a date was read, such as `05/06/2026 is read month/day, as the region writes dates`
Assumptions	Conventions in play, such as `sin takes radians; write 30° for degrees`
Exchange Rates	Each conversion, its rate, its source and its age
Weather	That the weather in the answer comes from Apple Weather, with its mark and Other data sources

A name’s origin is always named, so you can tell a value defined above from one that arrived from somewhere else:

rent = $1,200.00 (line 2) — defined earlier in this note
fee = 7 (Definitions) — from Settings › Calculations › Shared definitions
rate = 1.08 (from Assumptions) — from a note you used
line2 = $100.00 (absolute: attached to line 5 through inserts and moves) — a line reference, and the row it points at
cost has no amount — a name that holds text rather than a number

The popover is read-only: opening it never changes the line, and it closes as soon as you type.

Line references

Uses says which kind of reference a line holds. line2, and ↑ for the line above, are absolute: they stay attached to their row when you insert or move lines. prev and ans are relative, and read whatever answer is nearest above them now: prev = 5 (relative: the nearest answer above, now line 4).

Used By is the other direction: every line in the note that reads this one by its number or by the name it defines, such as Line 7: total * 2 — the first six, then how many more. Lines that use prev or ans aren’t listed, since they follow whichever answer is above them.

Shared currency symbols

$, ¥ and kr each belong to more than one currency, so Assumptions says which one a line read, and how to write another:

$ is read as USD; write CA$, A$ or a code such as CAD for another dollar — not shown when the note’s calculation locale is in the United States, as with the English (United States) number format
¥ is read as JPY; write CNY for Chinese yuan
kr is read as DKK, as this note's Calculation Settings read it; write SEK or NOK for another krone

kr is the one that depends on the note: it’s the krone of the note’s calculation language — SEK for Swedish, NOK for Norwegian and DKK otherwise. Calculation Settings for This Note… — in the Calculation Line menu when you right-click a calculation, and under Calculations in the note’s … menu — shows all three below the number format, as in Money: $ is USD, ¥ is JPY, kr is SEK.

Exchange rates

A line that converts money lists each conversion under Exchange Rates, with the rate, where it came from and how old it is:

EUR → USD at 1.1367 · ECB reference 24 Sep · fetched 7 min ago — the latest downloaded rates. Rates more than an hour old add (cached).
EUR → USD at 1.1367 · ECB reference 24 Sep · pinned 25 Sep 2026 — a note whose rates are pinned, which uses them instead.

A currency the ECB doesn’t publish, such as a cryptocurrency, names a Coinbase quote instead.

A line that shows an error

An error answer is not a dead end. Click it, and the explanation names what went wrong, shows the part of the line that caused it, and offers See Examples — which opens the examples palette at the matching category without touching your line.

calc

5 km + 3 kg gives Error: incompatible units: can't add km and kg

Messages name both sides where it helps, so you can see at once which two things didn’t fit together. Some lines report an assumption instead of an answer, and say what to write instead:

calc

Feb 30 gives Unsupported: February has no day 30; its last day is the 28th, or the 29th in a leap year

A name you haven’t defined is named, with the closest one you have:

calc

rent = $800 gives $800.00

bills = $90 gives $90.00

rent + bill gives Unsupported: unrecognized calculation at "bill"; did you mean "bills"?

The name is marked in the line, the explanation says it isn’t defined, and See Examples opens the examples for reusing answers, which show how to name a value. A name with digits or underscores, such as rent2, works the same way: it’s never set aside as text or read as a number.

While you’re still typing a name, its error waits. On the way to price, 5 + pri isn’t a name Varlig knows, so the line shows no answer and no error until you pause for about a second and a half, or move the cursor off the name or the line. Other lines, and other errors, show as usual.

Every message is listed in Errors, diagnostics and limits.

Find a working example

Format › Calculation Examples… opens a searchable palette of worked examples, grouped by what you’re trying to do — percentages, margin and markup, splitting a bill, unit conversion, dates and durations, subtotals and totals, shopping lists, reusing answers and currency at a rate — followed by the whole function catalogue.

Each row shows a live answer, calculated with your note’s own settings, so you can see the result before you insert anything. Insert puts the example’s lines into the block at your caret, or starts a new block if the caret is outside one, as a single undoable edit.

Reading answers with VoiceOver

Each answer is a control VoiceOver can reach, announced like Line 4, €480, result €480.00 or Line 5, 1 / 0, error: divide by zero, with Explain Calculation and Copy Result as custom actions. The Calculation Results rotor lists every answer in the note, including lines that are scrolled out of view.