What do you mean by relative reference and absolute reference in MS-Excel sheet? Explain with example.

A cell reference tells a formula which cell to use. Its behaviour on copying decides the type.

Basis	Relative Reference	Absolute Reference
Form	A1	$A$1
On copy	Changes (moves with formula)	Fixed (never changes)
Use	Same pattern per row	One fixed rate/value

Example: D1 = 0.13 (13% VAT). Prices in B2:B10. In C2 write =B2*$D$1.

• Drag down: B2 → B3 → B4 (each row's own price — desired).
• $D$1 stays $D$1 (same VAT for all — desired). With only D1, it would wrongly become D2, D3.

Relative = moves; Absolute ($) = locked.