What Is a Mixed Cell Reference in Excel?

By Staff WriterLast Updated March 25, 2020

A mixed cell reference in an Excel spreadsheet refers to a cell that contains both absolute and relative references. An absolute reference is a number that remains the same, and a relative references is a number that changes when a formula or function is applied to new cells.

When writing formulas or functions, the commands in Excel that perform calculations, the cells are referenced by the column letter, which always comes first, followed by the row number. A dollar sign is used before a reference to show that it is to remain constant. For example, B$2, is a mixed cell reference. The number is column b changes and the number in row 2 remains the same.