Cell References

Formulas point at cells by reference. Saying B2 is faster and safer than retyping 12500 when English's Q1 budget changes.

James Okonkwo checks Arts Q4 before a governor meeting. The name box jump to E6 beats scrolling a wide sheet with contingency columns added later.

Use the Budgets sheet you just filled. Every reference below is a real cell in Northgate Academy's budget grid.

Columns are letters: A, B, C … Rows are numbers: 1, 2, 3 …

B2 = column B, row 2 = English Q1 budget (12500).

E6 = column E, row 6 = Arts Q4 budget (10000).

A1 = top-left corner — first header Department.

Column B is always Q1, C is Q2, D is Q3, E is Q4. Row 4 is always Science. So D4 is Science Q3 (18200) — column D, row 4.

Click B2 (the first cell in the range). Hold Shift and click E2 — or click B2 and drag to E2.

Expected result: Four cells highlight. The name box shows B2:E2 when multiple cells are selected.

A range from top-left to bottom-right is written B2:E6 — all quarterly budgets for every department (20 cells).

Click the name box (left of the formula bar). Type E6 and press Enter.

Expected result: Cell E6 (Arts Q4) is selected, even if you were on another part of the sheet.

Try B2 for a single cell. The name box may not accept a range like B2:E2 for navigation — type B2 instead.

Next lessons use =SUM(B2:E2) — one range for all four quarters.

Practice selecting B2:E6 now: click B2, Shift+click E6. That block is what you will format as currency and what SUMIF will test later.

English's Q3 budget lives in D2. The range B2:E2 includes all four quarterly budgets for English — cells B2, C2, D2, and E2.