In Numbers make Y axes show smaller values

I have had the best luck keeping the data in Numbers and only pasting tables and graphs into Pages. But that is because I like the added tools in Numbers and not that I've had any issues pasting back or forth.

I've done a few tests and can't replicate your issue on '09 versions of both iWork programs. Have you experimented pasting the data from pages to numbers as values (or paste and match style)? It is a long shot, but the two things that come to mind is pasting into a new spreadsheet (in case the one you are using has some sort of issue) or pasting data that is somehow formatted to cause an obscure problem.

Numbers as a spreadsheet operates very well for its intended design, calculating, storing and displaying (in a pretty way) tabulated data. However many people try to use spreadsheets as databases. When emulating a relational database, of sorts, using a spreadsheet is clunky at best.

Making links to individual cells in different tables on different sheets is easy, but filtering entire rows remotely on a separate table is quite another task.

Databases use a unique ID in so as to reference data between tables. You can use this to do so with formulas in Excel and Numbers but to automate this process may require scripting. (In the case of Excel, VBA. Numbers can be scripted with Applescript.) iWork Automation has several tutorials and examples on how to script Numbers.

What I have used to good success in referencing data from a master sheet or table is the following formula:

Index ( Match ())

There is a plethora of information on the Internet as to how to use this formula, and there are many ways to implement it. Getting the N^th row based on criteria without a filter is tricky, however.

This answer for Excel VBA on Stackoverflow may be a start that can be used as a base (with proper syntax formatting of course) for an AppleScript service that may work.