As a result you don't have to type what is basically the same formula for each row in the Excel spreadsheet. You will see that each formula has adapted to take into account the rows adjacent to it. Go ahead and check the formulas all the way down the sheet. Now, if you double click on cell D3 you will see the formula to calculate the total for row 3.

So what I usually use is a technique called AutoFill this technique involves using a small square in the bottom right corner of the formula to drag down to the other cells. The problem with typing this is that it takes an awfully long time and it might not be the best use of my time. Now I could enter the formula in again, adjusting for the next row down so that it reads =B2*C2. However, now I want to copy the formula down to the cell below, to cell D3. You can see that the formula in Cell D2 is multiplying cells B2 and C2. What does 'Relative References' mean? To help you understand let's have a look at the formula in D2. When you have entered in formula in Excel, it is entered by default using relative references. The 20% is the amount that I want to fix.

To calculate the amout of tax that I need to pay I will want to multiply the amounts in the Total column with the 20% in column H. To help you understand take a look at the following spreadsheet: OK so what is the difference between absolute cell references and relative cell in Excel? Also, why would you need to know the difference between absolute and relative cell references when writing formulas in Excel. What are Absolute and Relative Cell References?

Absolute reference excel