What is the effect of placing a $ symbol in front of a portion of an Excel cell reference?

• A. It allows users to keep that portion of the cell reference.
• B. It keeps the entire cell reference the same.
• C. It will update that portion of the cell reference when it is copied and pasted.
• D. It clears the reference and uses a fixed value.

Answer: (A)

Placing a dollar sign in front of part of a cell reference makes that part absolute, so it stays fixed when you copy the formula to other cells. For example, locking the column with $A1 keeps the column A constant while the row can change as you copy down; locking the row with A$1 keeps the row constant while the column can change as you copy across; locking both with $A$1 keeps the entire reference constant no matter where you paste. This is why the effect described is that that portion of the reference remains fixed during copying.