Monkey: cheers for the info think I'm starting to get it

Batfish: That link was very helpful, recommend it to all Lipo newbies.

lets see if I understood it correctly. 3s means 3 cells connected in series just like a standard Nimh pack, this adds the voltage of each cell together to give you the pack voltage, 2p means another 2 cells in parallel, now this is where I'm a bit fuzzy on, if each cell is 3200mah does each cell in parallel increase the pack mah by its 3200mah IE 3s = 11.1v 3200mah + 2p 3200mah+3200mah = 11.1v 9600mah? or does 2 cells only increase it by 3200mah?
I'm also a bit unclear on how you wire up 3 cells in series and another 2 in parallel, sorry if this is a bit of a dense question.