[samanthaln86]

I cannot for the life of me balance this equation.

Ce(IO3)4  + H2C2O4    –>    Ce(C2O4)3  +  I2  + H2O   +   CO2

[samanthaln86]

and yes i have tried to do it over and over, maybe im just looking over something

[Tetrahedrite]

It is a redox reaction, you have to balance each half separately or it will be too hard.
Hint I(oxidation state 5+) >>>>>>>I (oxidation state 0)
and
Ce4+ >>>>>>>>>Ce3+

[Mitch]

I was bored so you get lucky today. Start with cerium and it falls out eventually, the trick is to do iodine next and then "(O3)" then hydrogen and finally the CO2s

2 Ce(IO3)4  + 24H2C2O4    –>    2Ce(C2O4)3  +  4I2  + 24H2O  +  36CO2

[AWK]

Cerium is the oxidant or not in this reaction (probably is), but cerium oxalate should be Ce2(C2O4)3 in the former case or Ce(C2O4)2 in the later one.
These reaction can be balanced even without procedure for redox reaction taking into account hydrogen atoms on the left side and water on the right side.
Follow up my way of thinking!
You need 2 cerium atoms on the right side. Put 2 on the left one.
2Ce(IO3)4  + H2C2O4    –>    Ce2(C2O4)3  +  I2  + H2O  +  CO2
you have 2 cerium atoms, 8 iodine atoms and 24 oxygen atoms that need 48 hydrogen atoms to form water, hence you need 24 molecules of oxalic acid, 3 of them form cerium(III) oxalate, the rest molecules of oxalic acid forms carbon dioxide. So the result is
2Ce(IO3)4  + 24H2C2O4    –>    Ce2(C2O4)3  +  4I2  + 24H2O  +  42CO2

In the second case, thinking analogously:
Ce(IO3)4  + 12H2C2O4    –>    Ce(C2O4)2  +  2I2  + 12H2O  +  20CO2

[jdurg]

Maybe it's because I was/am such a geek, but I always enjoyed balancing chemical reactions.  I thought it was pretty neat.  

[samanthaln86]

thanks so much for everyones *delete me*!    

[AWK]

Specially for Jdurg, an easy example, just for enjoying.
Cr₂P₂O₇ + I₂ = Cr₂O₃ + CrP₃O₉ + PI₃

[jdurg]

This one wasn't too bad.  It was just a matter of figuring out the oxidation states that took some effort.  But in the end, the resulting balanced equation is:

15Cr₂P₂O₇ + 9I₂ -> 11Cr₂O₃ + 8CrP₃O₉ +6PI₃.