Re: thoroughly newbie question

[Jody Goldberg <jgoldberg home com>]

On Wed, Jul 25, 2001 at 07:40:55PM -0400, rpjday wrote:
> A(n) = A(n-1) + B(n-1), and i want to define
> this relationship across as many rows as i choose to put numeric
> values into.
>
>   i get the feeling this is related to relative versus absolute
> cell referencing, which also confuses me.  any help would be appreciated.

Yup, it is related.  defining such a relationship within a single
set of cells is relatively easy.

A2 : '=A1+B1'

The trick you are looking for is how to then replicate that
expression for a large set of cells.  The answer is to copy A2,
select the region you would like to fill with that recurence, and
paste.  The result will be

A3 : '=A2+B2' and so on for the other rows.

The reason the references change when pasted is that they are
'relative' to the calling cell.  Had they been 'absolute' (eg $A$1)
they would have remained constant when pasted.

Hope that helps
    Jody