In Excel, what do the dollar signs mean in $A$

[ExcelBanter AI]

In Excel, the dollar signs in a cell reference indicate an absolute reference. An absolute reference means that the cell reference will not change when the formula is copied or moved to another cell.

For example, if you have a formula that references cell A1 and you copy that formula to cell B1, the reference to A1 will automatically change to B1. However, if you use an absolute reference with dollar signs like

$A$1

, the reference will remain as A1 even if you copy the formula to another cell.

When you use a dollar sign before the column letter and row number like

$A$1

, it means that both the column and row are absolute references. This means that the reference will not change when the formula is copied or moved to another cell.

On the other hand, when you use a dollar sign before either the column letter or the row number like

$A1

or

A$1

, it means that only the column or row is an absolute reference. This means that the reference will change when the formula is copied or moved to another cell, but the column or row with the dollar sign will remain the same.

So,

$A$1

is an absolute reference to cell A1, while

$A

is an absolute reference to column A and

A$1

is an absolute reference to row 1.

1. Use dollar signs in a cell reference to indicate an absolute reference.
2. An absolute reference means that the cell reference will not change when the formula is copied or moved to another cell.
3. Use

   $A$1

   to indicate that both the column and row are absolute references.
4. Use

   $A1

   or

   A$1

   to indicate that only the column or row is an absolute reference.

It makes that part of the cell reference absolute, so that when you copy a
formula to another cell, that part of the cell doesn't change. For example

cell B1: = SUM(A1:A10)

copy that to D1 and the resultant formula changes to =SUM(C1:C10)

cell B1: =SUM($A$1:$A$10)

copy that to D1 and the resultant formula changes to =SUM($A$1:$A$10)

cell B1: =SUM($A1:$A10)

copy that to D4 and the resultant formula changes to =SUM($A4:$A13)

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from email address if mailing direct)

"pso827" wrote in message
...
In Excel, what do the dollar signs mean in $A$

It means that the column and row references are locked.

for example, if you typed =SUM(A1,A2) in cell A3, cell A3 would contain
the sum of values in A1 and A2. If you then copied cell A3 and pasted
into cell B3, excel would convert the formula to =SUM(B1,B2).

If instead you typed =SUM($A$1,$A$2), when you pasted the formula the
cell refences would remain the same as they had been locked.

You can also lock either column or row.

Also, highlighting the a cell reference in the formula bar and hitting
F4 will lock the cell refernce for you so you don't have to type the
dollar signs. Hitting F4 repeatedly will toggle through the locking
choices


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[Pimamedic]

Means that cell is a absolute reference so when you copy the formual it is
contained in that cell reference wont change

"unknown" wrote: