can anybody can tell me what is the difference between relative and
absolute addressing?

Might be much easier to read the Excel Help on "about cell and range references"
than for someone to explain the differences.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:58:49 -0700, wrote:

can anybody can tell me what is the difference between relative and
absolute addressing?

On Aug 7, 6:58 pm, wrote:
can anybody can tell me what is the difference between
relative and absolute addressing?

The syntactic difference is: A1 is relative, $A$1 is absolute. There
are other variations of addressing, namely: $A1 and A$1.

The effective difference arises when you copy and paste (or drag) a
cell. An absolute address (or part of the address) will not change.
A relative address (or part of the address) is modified in a manner
that Excel thinks makes sense.

For example, if A1 contains =B1+C1, and you copy and paste the into
A2, A3, etc, the formula in A2 will become =B2+C2. But if you A1
contains =B1+$C$1, then A2 will become =B2+$C$1.

Of course, whether or not that is desirable depends on the design of
your worksheet and what your intent is.

HTH.

Hi,

Switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references

Select the cell that contains the formula.

In the formula bar (formula bar: A bar at the top of the Excel window that
you use to enter or edit values or formulas in cells or charts. Displays the
constant value or formula stored in the active cell.) , select the reference
you want to change.
Press F4 to toggle through the combinations. The "Changes To" column
reflects how a reference type updates if a formula containing the reference
is copied two cells down and two cells to the right.


Formula being copied

Reference (Description) Changes to

$A$1 (absolute (absolute cell reference: In a formula, the exact address of
a cell, regardless of the position of the cell that contains the formula. An
absolute cell reference takes the form $A$1.) column and absolute row) $A$1

A$1 (relative (relative reference: In a formula, the address of a cell based
on the relative position of the cell that contains the formula and the cell
referred to. If you copy the formula, the reference automatically adjusts. A
relative reference takes the form A1.) column and absolute row) C$1

$A1 (absolute column and relative row) $A3

A1 (relative column and relative row) C3

Important: For more information, please refer to the topic "About cell and
range references" in the Microsoft Excel 2003 online help.

Challa Prabhu


" wrote:

can anybody can tell me what is the difference between relative and
absolute addressing?