adding numbers in each field?...really simple question!

[jammy_owen]

hello. all i want to do is add up two sets of numbers from two fields. i.e add up the information from field 'a', which i can put as 1, and add up with the info from field 'b', for instance 2. the answer i want in this case is 3.
But, for some reason, when i add up these fields with the '+' sign in the middle of my expression it will make the above example equal 12, because it adds the number from field 'b' onto the end of field'a'. i will put the problem in a simple diagram to make this simple question even simpler for you all.

field 'a' field 'b' outcome wanted outcome recieved
1--------2--------------3---------------12
2--------2--------------4---------------22
3--------3--------------6---------------33
etc.

what i did was 'outcome wanted: [field 'a']+[field 'b']' but, like i said, it ends up with the 'outcome recieved' results.

this shouldn't take you guys long to figure it out so a hasty reply would be grateful!!

 

[dcx693]

Access is apparently concatenating the digits, as you can see. If these numbers are being stored as numbers in your database table(s), then you can add them up in a query using an expression like this in the field line:
[Field1]+[Field2]

What are the fields actually called? They're not called "Field 'a'" and "Field 'b'" are they? If so, I'd rename them and get rid of the apostrophe characters.

 

[Mile-O]

=Val([FieldA])+Val([FieldB])

 

[jammy_owen]

yey! thanks mile-o-phile! i told you it was a simple question!

 

[Pat Hartman]

Rather than using a bandaid (the Val() function), you should change the data type of the fields to numeric if their contents are supposed to be numeric.