CLASS OBJECTIVE
Identify what the absolute references in the spreadsheet are and what they are for.
WHAT ARE ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE REFERENCES?
A reference identifies a cell (or a range of cells) uniquely and specifically in spreadsheets. References are like addresses within a spreadsheet workbook that will allow formulas to find any cell and get its value to use in applying calculations in a formula, you already know about cell reference formulas, for example:
If you perform this formula with "cell reference" you identify that you will take the values within the indicated cells and a calculation will be performed. Remember that writing the cells is not the same as writing the values that are in the cell (which would be =38+21).
HOW TO MAKE A RELATIVE REFERENCE AND AN ABSOLUTE REFERENCE?
Surely in one of your activities you realized that when creating a formula, the same spreadsheet "helps" you to fill in the formulas that will be applied in the same column, identifying that the cells used are relative, that is, they are changed or updated at the same time. time to copy the same formula, look at this example:
When performing the formula to calculate the total to pay for each product =F2*G2 (=PRICE*QUANTITY) the result is calculated, immediately after the spreadsheet suggests you "fill in" the entire column of formulas by changing the REFERENCE of the cells for the result to be correct, it then suggests AUTOFILL with the same formula
This process is possible since a relative reference is made when automatically changing between the rows since you started with =F2*G2 when accepting it will be filled with the consecutive =F3*G3, =F4*G4, =F5*G5 etc.
WHAT THEN IS AN ABSOLUTE REFERENCE?
Unlike relative references, absolute references do not allow the spreadsheet to change them when you copy them. These references remain fixed no matter how many times they are copied. This means that if you created a formula with an absolute reference, the cell that has the absolute will never change and the one that does not.
In the previous example, you created the direct formula and it is auto-filled, likewise it changes when filling in consecutively and it is finished filling, on the contrary, if we carry out the formula by placing the $ symbol in the row and the column of the reference, the cell will remain look at the example:
On the contrary, if we put the $ symbol as seen in the example, the result when filling will be incorrect since instead of being consecutive, the first cell will now be fixed and the result would be this:
If we observe the price of the first product, it will be applied to all equally, carry out the example with your teacher.
THEN HOW TO MAKE AN ABSOLUTE REFERENCE?
To make a reference absolute we need to prepend the $ symbol to the column and row of the reference. The following formula has an absolute reference to cell C3 as in the class example:
=$C$3*D3
Remember that the difference between an absolute reference and a relative reference is that the first one uses the $ symbol to let the spreadsheet know that we want to leave it fixed even after having copied it to another cell.
REMEMBER!!!!!
Activity 01
Open the file that is published for today's activity using the example we did together in class as a base, read and follow the instructions indicated by your teacher in the activity.
