Absolute references practice

3 exercises in this lesson

1. Task 1 · cell E10

   Calculate first-order revenue including the tax rate in D9. Lock D9 with $D$9.

2. Task 2 · cell E10

   Calculate second-order revenue including the tax rate in D9. Lock D9 with $D$9.

3. Task 3 · cell E10

   Calculate total revenue including the tax rate in D9. Lock D9 with $D$9.

Using Absolute references at work

The syntax is $D$9 locks both the column and row. Once it is in your hands, the work it replaces is the kind of thing that used to mean scrolling a column and hoping you did not miss a row.

This is lesson 3 of 37. It takes a few minutes, and the exercises are marked the moment you submit rather than at the end.

Where people usually slip

• Ranges drift. Pointing at three cells when the data has six is the single most common cause of a wrong total, and it is invisible because the answer still looks plausible.
• Copying breaks a reference. Relative references shift when a formula is copied. If a value should stay put, lock it with dollar signs.
• The number is right, the method is not. Typing a total by hand produces the right answer once. A formula produces it again when the data changes, which is the actual skill.

How this is marked

Each exercise is checked against the result the formula should produce, and then re-run on a different set of numbers. A hardcoded answer passes the first check and fails the second, so it is rejected. That second pass is the part that makes the practice stick.