>Probably i'm missing something, but,
>if x='1.2' then: type(x)='N'
>if x='1.a' then: type(x)='U'


This almost works but fails in subtle cases.

Suppose:

a123 = 456

if x='123' then: type(x) = 'N'
if x='a123' then: type(x) = 'N' (undesirable result)

Problem is, if there is a variable in scope whose name is the same as the string in x, type() returns the type of that variable....Nasty!

I'm thinking there might be a way to use the TRANSFORM() function to distinguish between the two cases, but I haven't figured it out yet.