Problem with reading a file as a string

hi , this is a question in c programming.
#include <stdio.h>
int main (void)
{
FILE *Math_Expression;
int counter = 0;
int total = 0;
float average;
char n;
Math_Expression = fopen("pf1.txt", "r");
if (Math_Expression == NULL)
{
printf("Can't open numbers.txt\n");
exit(1);
}
while (fscanf(Math_Expression, "%s", &n) == 1)
{
printf("%s",n);
counter++;
}


fclose(Math_Expression);

printf("There were %d characters in the file\n", counter);

;

system("pause");
return 0;
}


The code above , doesnt compile.
If i change the "%s " to "*c" it works; why is that ?
Also the real thing i need to do is to be able to read in values from the file as string , and then play around with the values depending on their type ( operator like *,/,+,- etc or if its a decimal ) . The problem i face is if i need to read in the values as "%s", i will be stuck fiddling with a vraiable with an "&" sign .
How do i read in the values of the files regardles of it being an operator or a number , and then check the string for its type ( *,+,-,3.2).
I ran into trouble trying to store the values of the array as a string, i got a an error when i used the strcpy function to store the values from the file into a string , strcpy ( char, &n) ..where &n is the current value read from the file . The error was " [Warning] passing arg 1 of `strcpy' makes pointer from integer without a cast ".
Also how do i get rid of the & ( pointer adress) ?
As i have to extract values from the file as a string and then operate on them , as in compare them or add them or subtract them etc .; how do i do do these without getting the same "makes pointer without a cast error ".

Please help me as soon as possible.

Any feedback will be appreciated xD .

n is a single character not an array.