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Excel 2003 Formulas Step by Step Tutorial

By Ted French, About.com

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Updating Excel Formulas

Microsoft Excel 2003 Formulas Tutorial

Microsoft Excel 2003 Formulas Tutorial

© Ted French

Updating Excel Formulas

When you use cell references in Excel formulas, the formulas will automatically update whenever the relevent data in the spreadsheet changes.

For example, if you realize that the data in cell A1 should have been an 8 instead of a 3, you only need to change the contents of cell A1.

Excel updates the answer in cell in cell C1. The formula, itself, doesn't need to change because it was written using cell references.

Changing the data

  1. Click on the cell A1
  2. Type an 8
  3. Press the ENTER key on the keyboard

The answer in cell C1 where the formula is, immediately changes from 5 to 10, but the formula itself is unchanged.

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