| Book Edition | 3rd Edition |
| Author(s) | Pinard, Romer, Morley |
| ISBN | 9781305862869 |
| Publisher | Cengage Learning |
| Subject | Computer Science |
Explain the difference between a relative reference, an absolute reference, and a mixed reference.
The differences occur on the basis of whether the cell reference to a cell changes or remains the same while copying a formula to another cell.
The differences have been described below.
Relative references change when the content is copied to the adjacent cell, whereas the absolute references remain constant in such cases. In a mixed reference, both absolute and relative references are present. In a relative reference, suppose the user copies the formula, =B5*C5, from cell D5 to D6. The formula in D6 cell adjusts to the right by one column and becomes =B6*C6. If the user does not want to change the original cell reference, the user makes the cell reference absolute with a dollar sign. The user can implement a mixed reference by preceding either the row value or column with a dollar sign.
The differences can be highlighted as:
| Relative reference | Absolute reference | Mixed reference |
| The cell reference is relative | The cell reference is absolute | Both relative and absolute |
This is the default setting
| This is not the default | This is not the default |
| No symbols are used | The dollar symbol is used along with the cell value | May or may not have a dollar sign |