I started my search on Google. Then I went to the forum home page. I went through 9 pages of different subjects in the 'Help with Voxcommando' branch of the forum and I got nothing for the search examples I gave.
Also we have a problem with different languages, Canadian (American) English is different to UK English. For example, with all respect to Kalle, in the UK we don't do math, we do maths (short for mathematics, you see). It would never have occurred to me to search for 'math', it is just not a word we use in the UK.
Anyway, nime5ter solved the problem for me and pointed me in the correct direction, now I have the starting point and I know where to look in the future and I am grateful for the assistance. I was already using Python to control a Tivo box, and I guessed the the calculations would have to be done in Python, I just could not figure out how to pass the information each way. I can see now that the actions are so obvious to people familiar with it that it is hardly ever documented.
Thanks to all for your time reading my posts and for all your help.
Now I'm going to have a beer and calculate something.
Cheers to you all!