every time i copy it, the curly brackets disappear.
An array formula must be entered using CONTROL + SHIFT + ENTER instead of merely ENTER. You can copy and paste without losing the brackets, and also you can copy by dragging the lower right spot of a selected cell. If you copy the data in the cell from the formula bar, and paste it into a new cell, you must ENTER it with CONTROL +SHIFT + ENTER. You can't add the brackets by typing them in; it won't work.
