With respect to Stretchwicksters idea, why dont you make a small keypad type display, like a calculator, that contains all of the keys and the operations that may be needed. Then as the user presses the keys / operation buttons, fill a label with the formula that is being created by the user.
Then you will have a formula at least in the form of a string value (label.caption), which you could parse through to get the individual operands and operations to use in your formula.
Hope this helps!
Andrew
"If it is stupid but it works then it isn't stupid"