Paul, thank you for your message. It would be great if you could just repost it using curly braces instead of the brackets. Note also that you misstated the problem in the subject line. It should have been xx3 = 3..
Lastly, the connection you alude to between the two problems is not altogether obvious. Could you please elucidate with a few lines.

Do not worry about the current thread. I shall remove it (which I can do) as soon as you posted an updated message (which I can't do for you.)

Thank you,
Alexander Bogomolny