Absolute and Relative cell referencing

Learning Objectives: By the end of this topic you should be able to: describe the characteristics of spreadsheet software; describe how variables, formulae, rules & functions are used in spreadsheets describe and explain the purpose and use of worksheets, workbooks, rows, columns, cells and ranges in spreadsheet software;

Relative cell referencing relative reference changes the cell it references according to the movement of the target cell will be used when the contents of a cell are copied and the references incremented e.g. copying a column total for each row

Relative cell referencing Cell D3 contains a formula: =B3+C3 The formula in D3 can be copied into the cells below (D4 to D6) by either using copy and paste or the Autofill feature. Excel will not copy the formula exactly - it will enter the 'correct' formula for the cell. In D4 it will enter =B4+C4, in D5 it will enter =B5+C5 and so on. This is known as relative cell addressing.

Absolute cell referencing absolute reference always refers to the same cell e.g. $G$3 will always point to that cell (G3) used when formulae and functions need to be copied, but the cell reference must not change when the cell is copied, the reference to the cell stays the same e.g. VAT rate dollar sign ($) used in Excel to indicate absolute reference

Absolute cell referencing in this example we wish to calculate the total cost of each item after sales tax has been added. the current value of the sales tax rate is stored in cell C2. in cell D5 we have entered the formula =C2*C5/100

Absolute cell referencing This is what happens if the formula in cell D5 is copied and pasted down the column. Oops! the first cell in the formula needs to be fixed or absolute i.e. the reference to cell C2 should remain when the formula is copied the formula in cell D5 should read =$C$2*C5/100