Cell references practice

3 exercises in this lesson

1. Task 1 · cell D4

   Select D4, the price for the third item.

2. Task 2 · cell C7

   Select C7, the units for the final item.

3. Task 3 · cell E10

   Select E10, the summary cell below the table.

Using Cell references at work

The syntax is A column letter + a row number, for example D4. 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 1 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.