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Dragging cell's formula changes BOTH referenced cells - don't want that!

  1. #1
    Registered User
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    08-18-2005
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    Dragging cell's formula changes BOTH referenced cells - don't want that!

    Sorry for the long post!

    Please see the attached Word doc - it has a table that I copied from a spreadsheet I'm working on. I included each cell's formula to help explain what I'm trying to do.

    As you can tell, I'm creating a kind of fuel calculator/comparison chart. I want to be able to compare the amount spent over a year for a couple of vehicles with a certain mpg rating. There's more to the chart, but this information is sufficient for my question/problem.

    I'm including fuel prices from $1.50 to $4.00 (man, can you believe prices these days?! ). That's two hundred and fifty rows of fuel prices - per car. Obviously I'm trying to find the quickest way to get the formulas in the corresponding columns.

    What I tried to do was drag, for instance (in the attached table) cell B10 down. To make the chart work, the first cell in the formula must change to reference the fuel price in the next row, but the reference to the car's gallons used must stay the same. But what actually happens when I drag the cell is both parts of the formula change to reference the next cell down from each cell refernced in the formula. So dragging from B10 down, it changes to "=(A11*C4) when I want it to read "=(A11*C3)".

    Is everyone thoroughly confused? Good! Now for the question:

    Is there anyway to automate or otherwise speed up the formula entry instead of manually entering all 250 - sorry 500 formulas (for the two cars' colums)?!

    Edit: I have never ventured in to using any special commands (vlookup, pmt, even SUM) but I'll learn...

    Thanks for anyone's help!

    Mark
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by markinva; 08-18-2005 at 09:24 AM.

  2. #2
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    If I read this right, then all you need to do is make the formula absolute. You can do this by simply adding dollar signs to the cell. This is what your formula should look like in B8:

    =(A8*$C$3)

    Now as for a quick way to automate this and apply it to the entire list (again, if I read this right), if you double click on the bottom right of the active cell with the formula you want to copy, you will see that it will automatically apply that formula all the way down your sheet until it runs out of data. Pretty cool, huh?!

    Hope that helps!

  3. #3
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    Thumbs up

    Beautiful!! Worked like a charm!!

    Thanks.

    Mark

  4. #4
    RocketDude
    Guest

    Re: Dragging cell's formula changes BOTH referenced cells - don't want that!

    Mark,

    The attachment didn't show up, so this may or may not solve your problem but
    here goes:

    If in your example, cell C3 should always point to the same cell, then make
    it an absolute reference -- $C$3. Then you can drag the formula and it won't
    change.

    Hope this helps,

    --
    Matthew

    "markinva" <markinva.1tyque_1124373915.1901@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote in
    message news:markinva.1tyque_1124373915.1901@excelforum-nospam.com...
    >
    > Sorry for the long post!
    >
    > Please see the attached Word doc - it has a table that I copied from a
    > spreadsheet I'm working on. I included each cell's formula to help
    > explain what I'm trying to do.
    >
    > As you can tell, I'm creating a kind of fuel calculator/comparison
    > chart. I want to be able to compare the amount spent over a year for a
    > couple of vehicles with a certain mpg rating. There's more to the
    > chart, but this information is sufficient for my question/problem.
    >
    > I'm including fuel prices from $1.50 to $4.00 (man, can you believe
    > prices these days?! ). That's two hundred and fifty rows of fuel
    > prices - per car. Obviously I'm trying to find the quickest way to get
    > the formulas in the corresponding columns.
    >
    > What I tried to do was drag, for instance (in the attached table) cell
    > B10 down. To make the chart work, the first cell in the formula must
    > change to reference the fuel price in the next row, but the reference
    > to the car's gallons used must stay the same. But what actually happens
    > when I drag the cell is *both* parts of the formula change to reference
    > the next cell down from each cell refernced in the formula. So dragging
    > from B10 down, it changes to "=(A11*C4) when I want it to read
    > "=(A11*C3)".
    >
    > Is everyone thoroughly confused? Good! Now for the question:
    >
    > Is there anyway to automate or otherwise speed up the formula entry
    > instead of manually entering all 250 - sorry *500* formulas (for the
    > two cars' colums)?!
    >
    > Edit: I have never ventured in to using any special commands (vlookup,
    > pmt, even SUM) but I'll learn...
    >
    > Thanks for anyone's help!
    >
    > Mark
    >
    >
    > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
    > |Filename: Fuel calculator example.doc |
    > |Download: http://www.excelforum.com/attachment.php?postid=3701 |
    > +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
    >
    > --
    > markinva
    > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    > markinva's Profile:
    > http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26408
    > View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=396824
    >




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