on creating an aggregate this leaves a variable as an answer --the variable cannot be used again in another aggregate within the same query -it seems a very fundemental request but i cant get around it without using further queries to change the variables to a constant - i can get around this by using crosstabs but then these cannot be used in a subform

ie. Total Price:[unit price]*[quantity] gives an aggregate but how do i get a sum of the Total Price that can be used in a subform without using a crosstab? the problem is compounded by the fact that i ned these answers for every id number

Since TotalPrice is returned by the Query you can Sum it in the subform footer. =Sum([TotalPrice]) as the control source for an unbound textbox

now i have a problem if i want to use the resulting ansewr in another aggregate witihn a query --such as Grant Total of Units --and if i want to add vat onto that--- the problem carries on ad infinitum

another difficulty i find is that if i use a total or grouping within a query-- it leaves it in a state where no new records can be added???? --if i could cure that problem i may be able to build query upon query to solve the first

I'll address your last issue first. If you want Access to update a row in a table, you need to tell it specifically which row. If you have an aggregate query, the rows do not coorespond to individual rows in a table. Each row in an aggregate query aggregates the values from multiple rows so how would you tell Access exactly which row needed to be updated?

As to the rest, use a report if you need multiple levels of aggregation. A query can only aggregate to a single level.

You can include expressions within aggregate expressions:
Sum([unit price]*[quantity])

The above statement will sum the product of Unit price and quantity.

so i can have as many aggregates as i want in a report? for as many levels as i want? --presumably only in the report footer - can i inport data from a multiple of queries to obtain these aggregates?