# List of points won't work **URL:** \ **Category:** Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558 "2019-09-13T20:36:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/1 "2019-09-13T20:36:34Z")
I’m working on a graphing picture where students will move points around to create a picture. I was trying to make a list of points from a table in order to compare it to the student locations. The error for list “L” says you can’t make a list of points, but I have a list of points by point names. Why? ---
**Author:** ![JayChow](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jaychow/32/1674_2.png) [@JayChow](https://cl.desmos.com/u/JayChow)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2019, 11:23pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/2 "2019-09-13T23:23:55Z")
If you’re making a list by point name, you’re still making a list of points. You’ll need to parse the coordinates first. .x and .y could work for you here. [https://www.desmos.com/calculator/4undelj7x0](https://www.desmos.com/calculator/4undelj7x0) ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/3 "2019-09-14T07:00:43Z")
That helps answer one of my questions for comparing coordinates of points, but still doesn’t explain why list A in the Unscramble folder was valid and list L was not.[U Mad Bro? Graph Unscramble](https://teacher.desmos.com/activitybuilder/custom/5d7bf0d39ce8e95f0ec5b056) ---
**Author:** ![JayChow](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jaychow/32/1674_2.png) [@JayChow](https://cl.desmos.com/u/JayChow)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/4 "2019-09-14T17:50:10Z")
Oh that’s a calculator thing. Let me get some reasoning from one of our engineers. Maybe @eric can help? ---
**Author:** ![SeanMaths4EAL](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/seanmaths4eal/32/289_2.png) [@SeanMaths4EAL](https://cl.desmos.com/u/SeanMaths4EAL)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 9:32am UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/5 "2019-09-17T09:32:56Z")
Unless I’m missing something, (x\_13, y\_13) gives you a list of three points, and then the square brackets are trying to put that list inside another list. Just lose the square brackets. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/6 "2019-09-17T15:45:32Z")
I thought I had tried that, but went back and it does work. It just doesn’t give the note that it’s a 3 element list, so I didn’t think it had, but I can work with it as a list using .x and .y. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![JayChow](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jaychow/32/1674_2.png) [@JayChow](https://cl.desmos.com/u/JayChow)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 4:58pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/7 "2019-09-17T16:58:17Z")
Neither the list of points by name nor the list of points as deceived above by Sean will allow for much computation if at all. I think they’re actually the same thing. Which is super useful (thanks Sean!) but won’t do you any good beyond a visual. Furthermore, if you want to use it in the computation layer you’ll need the list to be of numbers only. Each column in your table is actually a number list. You can call on those lists in CL no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Grubbs](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/daniel_grubbs/32/719_2.png) [@Daniel\_Grubbs](https://cl.desmos.com/u/Daniel_Grubbs)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/8 "2019-09-17T17:17:05Z")
Actually, they do allow for computation. A.x makes a list of the x coordinates of the list of points, A. Using the list from the tables is a helpful shortcut, as I’m trying to make a conditional. How do you reference a certain element of a list? ---
**Author:** ![JayChow](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/cl.desmos.com/jaychow/32/1674_2.png) [@JayChow](https://cl.desmos.com/u/JayChow)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 5:25pm UTC](https://cl.desmos.com/t/list-of-points-wont-work/558/9 "2019-09-17T17:25:19Z")
Oh yeah, with .x .y, totally possible! You can reference a list item by appending the list name with [index]