Formula syntax

Code	Variable	Comment
A1	Full relative reference	After copying, new formulas will refer to a cell in a new column and in a new row
$A$1	Full absolute reference	After copying, new formulas will refer to the same cell
A$1	Relative column, absolute row reference	After copying, new formulas will refer to a cell in the same row but in a new column
$A1	Absolute column, relative row reference	After copying, new formulas will refer to a cell in the same column but in a new row

Similar tasks

Task 1. Refer a cell to a combination of fixed cell variables, row and column variables.

Make a quote list for a small roofing business. A customer pays you an hourly rate based on roof type, and each roof type requires its specific roofing material that the client also pays for. The state also charges you a sales tax on top of your bill. What will be formula to determine a quote to a customer for an estimated work in hours based on these variables?

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
1	Sales tax	8.5%	Hours >>	1	2	3	4
2	Roof type	Per hour	Materials
3	Tar paper	25	200
4	Corrugated metal	30	300
5	Ceramic tiles	35	300
6	Wood shingles	40	500

Solution (for cell D1)

=(B$3+(B$4*D$1))*(1+$B$1)

Convert formula to its results

Tools: Paste Special

Level: beginner

Problem

From time to time you will have to save the result of a formula, and sometimes more than a single formula, but rather an array of them.

Someone sent you a range of data that you need to label with line numbers to use as a database. Dragging a fill handle for 1000 lines is a difficult and error-prone solution, so you wrote a simple formula and copied it across the range to create numbers from 1 to 1000. But if you try to sort this table in any way other than its original order, the line numbers will change. How do you make these numbers permanent?

	A	B
1	1	Item1
2	=A1+1	Item2
3	=A2+1	Item3
1000	=A999+1	Item1000