More on Cell and Range
References
A reference identifies a cell or a range of
cells on a worksheet and tells Microsoft
Excel where to look for the values or data
you want to use in a formula.
 With references, you can use data contained
in different parts of a worksheet in one
formula or use the value from one cell in
several formulas.
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You can also refer to cells on other sheets in
the same workbook, to other workbooks,
and to data in other programs.
References to cells in other workbooks are
called external references.
 References to data in other programs are
called remote references.
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By default, Microsoft Excel uses the A1
reference style, which labels columns with
letters (A through IV, for a total of 256
columns) and labels rows with numbers (1
through 65536).
To refer to a range of cells, enter the
reference for the cell in the upper-left corner
of the range, a colon (:), and then the
reference to the cell in the lower-right
corner of the range.
 The following are examples of references.

To refer to
The cell in column A
and row 10
The range of cells in
column A and rows 10
through 20
The range of cells in
row 15 and columns B
through E
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A10
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A10:A20
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B15:E15
Use
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All cells in row 5
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5:5
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All cells in rows 5
through 10
All cells in column H
All cells in columns H
through J

5:10
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H:H
H:J
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You can also use a reference style where
both the rows and the columns on the
worksheet are numbered--R1C1 style.
 In R1C1 style, Microsoft Excel indicates the
location of a cell with an "R" followed by a
row number and a "C" followed by a
column number.

R1C1 style is useful for computing row and
column positions in macros and can be
useful for showing relative cell references.
 To switch into or out of the R1C1 reference
style, use the Tools => Options… dialog
box and select the General tab:
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If you switch to the R1C1 style, your
worksheet will look like this:
Cell D50 now
referenced as
R50C4
You can use the labels of columns and rows
on a worksheet to refer to the cells within
those columns and rows,
 or you can create descriptive names to
represent
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–
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–
–
cells,
ranges of cells,
formulas, or
constant values.
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If you want to analyze data in the same cell or
range of cells on multiple worksheets within the
workbook, use a 3-D reference.
A 3-D reference includes the cell or range
reference, preceded by a range of worksheet
names. The symbol ‘!’ is used to separate the
worksheet name from the cell names.
Microsoft Excel uses any worksheets stored
between the starting and ending names of the
reference.

For example,
Sheet1:Sheet3!B5:D10
is a 3-D reference to all the cells in Sheet1,
Sheet2, and Sheet3 that lie between cells B5
and D10 on these worksheets. There are 54
such cells in this 3-D range. (We assume
that the workbook contains Sheet1, Sheet2,
and Sheet3, in that order.)
Labels and names in formulas
Worksheets usually have labels at the top of
each column and to the left of each row that
describe the data within the worksheet.
 You can use these labels within formulas
when you want to refer to the related data.
 You can also create descriptive names that
are not labels on the worksheet to represent
cells, ranges of cells, formulas, or constants.

When you create a formula that refers to
data in a worksheet, you can use the column
and row labels in the worksheet to refer to
the data.
 For example, if a table contains sales
amounts in a column labeled Sales and a
row for a division labeled Support, you can
find the sales amount for the Support
division by entering the formula
=Support Sales.
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The space between the labels is the
intersection operator, which designates that
the formula should return the value in the
cell at the intersection of the row labeled
Support and the column labeled Sales.
The formula
The Result
(unformatted)
Multiple labels in formulas
When you have labels for the columns and
rows on your worksheet, you can use those
labels to create formulas that refer to data
on the worksheet.
 If your worksheet contains stacked column
labels in which a label in one cell is
followed by one or more labels below it,
you can use the stacked labels in formulas
to refer to data on the worksheet.

For example, if the label Projected is in cell
E5 and the label 1996 is in cell E6, the
formula =SUM(Projected 1996) returns the
total value for the Projected 1996 column.
 If row 8 contains sales amounts and the
label Sales is in cell D8, you can refer to the
projected sales amount for 1996 with the
formula =Projected 1996 Sales.
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When you refer to information by using
stacked labels, you refer to the information
in the order in which the labels appear, from
top to bottom.
If the label 1996 is in cell E5 and the label
Actual is in cell E6, you can refer to the
actual figures for 1996 by using 1996
Actual in a formula.
 For example, to calculate the average of the
actual figures for 1996, use the formula
=AVERAGE(1996 Actual).

If your data does not have labels or if you
have information stored on one worksheet
that you want to use on other sheets within
the same workbook, you can create a name
that describes the cell or range.
 A descriptive name in a formula can make it
easier to understand the purpose of the
formula.

Naming cells in a workbook
In Microsoft Excel, you can name a single
cell or a range of cells to make formulas
easier to read and remember.
 If you have row and column labels on a
worksheet, you can refer to them directly in
a formula, or you can use them as names
that represent the associated cells.

To name a cell or a range of cells
1 Select the cell, range of cells, or
nonadjacent selections that you want to
name.
 2 Click the Name box at the left end of the
formula bar.
 3 Type the name for the cells.
 4 Press ENTER.
 Note: You cannot name a cell while you are
changing the contents of the cell.
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You can also create a name that represents
the same cell or range of cells on more than
one worksheet.
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For example, the formula
=SUM(FirstQuarterSales) might be easier to
identify than =SUM(SalesC20:C30). In this
example, the name FirstQuarterSales
represents the range C20:C30 on the
worksheet named Sales.
Names are available to any sheet within the
workbook.
 For example, if the name ProjectedSales
refers to the range A20:A30 on the first
worksheet in the workbook, you can use the
name ProjectedSales on any other sheet in
the same workbook to refer to range
A20:A30 on the first worksheet.
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Names can also be used to represent
formulas or values that do not change
(constants). For example, you can use the
name SalesTax to represent the sales tax
amount (such as 6.2 percent) applied to
sales transactions.
 Note that, by default, names use absolute
cell references.
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