loop cut

I am trying to follow a tutorial to make double sided turning pages in a book.
the tutors english is good but when i press ctrl R ?? to make loop cuts
nothing happens
and how do i get the number of cuts to show up? see pic with arrow

thanks

Attachments




ctrl R and hover over the polygon you wish to add loops to. when they are purple, you can use the mouse wheel to increase the number of cuts.

if you cant add a loop at all, its because its an N-GON or a triangle. adding loops only work on squares.

After a few tries i got the purple line.
thanks for your help