IWork Problem Under Lion

You can use the VALUE() function for that. Its only argument is the cell that you want to evaluate

From the documentation:

The VALUE function returns a number value, even if the argument is formatted as text. This function is included for compatibility with tables imported from other spreadsheet apps.

VALUE(source-string)
source-string: Any value.

Notes
You’ll never need to use the VALUE function in a new table, because numbers in text are automatically converted for you.

Only the formatted text is converted. For example, if you type the string $100.001 into a cell, the default format will display only two decimals ($100.00). If VALUE refers to this cell, it will return 100, the value of the formatted text, not 100.001.

If the argument can’t be returned as a number value (does not contain a number), the function returns an error.

Examples
=VALUE(“22”) returns the number 22.

=VALUE(RIGHT(“The year 1953”, 2)) returns the number 53.

I ran into this same problem and spent two days searching for it.

My eventual answer: Install VirtualBox. In a virtual machine install windows XP, then install office and power point. This also gave me Access, an applicationf or which there is no good mac equivalent.