Absolute Cell reference

Hi Christine,

Welcome to the forum, In answer to your question;

Absolute and Relative referencing are a very important part of creating formulas; When we create a formula we can stipulate to Excel whether or not to fix a cell reference so that it is referenced at all times if the formula is copied to another cell. Copying a formula to another cell is accomplished by using the Fill handle, (the little square at the bottom right hand corner of a selected cell or range of cells). When we use Relative referencing and copy the formula using the Fill handle, the formula is copied using the original pattern, ie if the pattern is =A1*B3, the formula will become =B1*C3. If we need to reference cell A1 continuously we will require to "fix" this cell in our formula, using the F4 key (Function 4) at the top of the keyboard, we can apply $ signs to our formula, (Note: pressing the F4 key will cycle through a number of options to fix all, column or row). Select the cell into which you wish to create the first entry, type your formula, =A1*B3, in the Formula bar, select the A1 section of the formula, press the F4 key and $ signs will be placed in front of the A and the 1 (=$A$1*B3) or you could type the $ signs in place, press enter to activate the formula, using the Fill handle copy the formula to adjacent cells to the right. The formula will copy as follows, =$A$1*C3, and the next cell =$A$1*D3, This is known as Absolute Referencing.

I hope that has answered your question regards Pete