EXCEL: CHANGING THE CELL REFERENCE STYLE

When it comes to cell addresses, it's all a matter of how you prefer to think. You can choose how you want to address an Excel worksheet. The default form is A1, A2, and so forth. For example, you can enter numbers in cells A1 through A5 and then type into cell A7

=sum(a1:a5)

to get the sum. However, if you prefer to think in terms of rows and columns, choose Tools, Options and click the General tab. Under Reference Styles, you'll see two radio buttons: A1 and R1C1 (for "row 1, column 1"). For now, select R1C1 and click OK.

Now go back to your number list in cells A1 through A5. This time, type into cell A7

=sum(r1c1:r5c1)

to indicate that you want to sum the numbers in row 1, column 1 through row 5, column 1, and you'll get the correct sum.

Note that you have to choose between the two formats--when you choose R1C1, the standard method (A1) will no longer work.

2003-Dec-17 11:16am nancy@nmmi.edu