# parentheses error message

**URL:** <https://forum.certara.com/t/parentheses-error-message/2392>\
**Category:** Modelling and Simulation\
**Created:** [March 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.certara.com/t/parentheses-error-message/2392 "2012-03-27T17:15:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sampson0712](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sampson0712](https://forum.certara.com/u/sampson0712)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.certara.com/t/parentheses-error-message/2392/1 "2012-03-27T17:15:44Z")

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Hi, Can you help resolve a parentheses error message in lines 5 and 6? ![](http://pharsight.com/extranet/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/a.png) The lines are: deriv(A2 = (Cl2up \* C) – (Cl2eff \* C2) - (CLpbmc \* C2)) deriv(A3 = (Cl3up \* C) – (Cl3eff \* C3) - (CLpmn \* C3)) The full code if helpful is: test(){ #differential equations deriv(Aa = - (Aa \* Ka)) deriv(A1 = - (Cl \* C) + (Aa \* Ka)- (Cl2up \* C) + (Cl2eff \* C2)- (Cl3up \* C) + (Cl3eff \* C3)) deriv(A2 = (Cl2up \* C) – (Cl2eff \* C2) - (CLpbmc \* C2)) deriv(A3 = (Cl3up \* C) – (Cl3eff \* C3) - (CLpmn \* C3)) #elimination urinecpt(A1 = (Cl \* C)) urinecpt(A2 = (CLpbmc \* C2)) urinecpt(A3 = (CLpmn \* C3)) #dose dosepoint(Aa, tlag = (Tlag)) #concentrations in compartments C1 = A1 / V1 C2 = A2 / V2 C3 = A3 / V3 Cblood = (C1_A) + (C2_B) + (C3\*C) #residual error error(CEpsblood=1) observe(Cobsblood = Cblood \* (1 + CEpsblood)) error(CEps2 = 1) observe(CObs2 = C2 \* (1 + CEps2)) error(CEps3 = 1) observe(CObs3 = C3 \* (1 + CEps3)) #structural parameters stparm(A=tvA) stparm(B=tvB) stparm(C=tvC) stparm(V = tvV) stparm(Cl = tvCl \* exp(nCl)) stparm(Ka = tvKa) stparm(V2 = tvV2) stparm(Cl2up = tvCl2up) stparm(Cl2eff = tvCl2eff) stparm(V3 = tvV3) stparm(Cl3up = tvCl3up) stparm(Cl3eff = tvCl3eff) stparm(CLpbmc = tvCLpbmc) stparm(CLpmn = tvCLpmn) stparm(Tlag = tvTlag) #fixed effects fixef(tvV = c(1000, 5000, 10000)) fixef(tvCl = c(1.6, 16, 160)) fixef(tvKa = c(0.5, 5, 10)) fixef(tvV2 = c(0.002, 0.02, 2)) fixef(tvCl2up = c(2, 200, 2000)) fixef(tvCl2eff = c(0.01, 1, 100)) fixef(tvV3 = c(0.002, 0.02, 0.2)) fixef(tvCl3up = c(2, 200, 2000)) fixef(tvCl3eff = c(0.01, 1, 100)) fixef(tvCLpbmc = c(0.03, 0.3, 3)) fixef(tvCLpmn = c(0.03, 0.3, 3)) fixef(tvTlag = c(1, 1.8, 5)) fixef(tvA(freeze)=c(0.05,0.55,5)) fixef(tvB(freeze)=c(0.0005,0.005,0.5)) fixef(tvC(freeze)=c(0.0005,0.005,0.5)) ranef(diag(nCl)) } Thanks, Mario ![a.png](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/certara/original/1X/a7a6eaa91597e9dfae987598543ec39590c0e85c.png)

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**Author:** ![ana.henry](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/certara/user_avatar/forum.certara.com/ana.henry/32/2578_2.png) [@ana.henry](https://forum.certara.com/u/ana.henry)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://forum.certara.com/t/parentheses-error-message/2392/2 "2012-03-27T21:29:34Z")

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Dear Mario, I couldn’t see anything wrong with your code so I had a Pharsight developer look at your question. Here is his answer: [size=4]This problem is extremely subtle. The text contains what looks like a minus sign, but it is some oddball character that may have come from another app, like Word. The only way you can tell is its color. If I just replace it with a normal minus sign, that syntax error goes away. Normal minus sign is hex code 0x2D, but this one is 0x96.[/size] This refers to lines 4 to 7 Hope this helps, Ana