Business Computer Applications Practice Test

Understanding how cell references behave when formulas are copied is essential. Absolute references lock a row and/or column to the original cell by using a dollar sign before the column and/or row, so the reference stays pointing to that exact cell no matter where you copy the formula. This means you can fix just the column ($A1), just the row (A$1), or both ($A$1), depending on what you want to stay constant. The statement describing this behavior is that absolute references lock a row and/or column to the original cell, which best fits how these references work. Relative references, by contrast, adjust as you copy the formula, so they change to maintain the same position relative to the formula's new location. Absolute references do not change when copied, which is why the other options don’t fit. For example, =A1 copied down becomes =A2, but =$A$1 copied down stays =$A$1.