When working in the Lists & Spreadsheet application on the TI-Nspire, you sometimes want to reference the same cell in a formula, even if you copy the formula to other cells, which is an example of using an absolute cell reference.
For example, imagine that you want to convert heights to centimeters. Follow these steps:
Type the conversion factor for inches to centimeters, 2.54, in cell E1.
Type the formula =c1*e$1 in cell D1 and press [ENTER].
The $ symbol, which precedes the row reference, locks the row so that you are always referencing row 1. For example, if you were to copy this formula to cell F7, it would read =e7*g$1. The column is relative and updates accordingly; however, row 1 remains locked. The result of this action is shown in the first two screens.
To access the $ symbol, press
to open the symbol palette. Scroll down and highlight the $ symbol and press [ENTER] to paste this symbol into the formula. You can also press
to access the $ symbol.
Copy the formula to cells D2 through D5.
Use Steps 2 and 3 from the preceding section to accomplish this task. The last screen shows the result of copying this formula to cells D2 through D5. Notice that the formula for cell D5 is shown on the entry line. Cell C5 is a relative cell reference and was updated when copied. Cell E1 has not been updated because the row reference is locked.
The conversion factor that you typed in cell E1 converts inches to centimeters. If you want to perform a different conversion, you can simply change this conversion factor and everything in column D automatically updates. For example, to convert everyone’s height to fathoms, type 0.0139 in cell E1, press [ENTER], and watch the change.
In the previous example, the row was locked. You also have the option of locking both a row and a column. To do so, simply include the $ symbol before both the column reference and the row reference.
In fact, you could have used an absolute row and column reference in this example and accomplished the same result. The command =c1*$e$1 references cell E1 no matter where you copy the formula. Similarly, you could have just locked the column reference if the situation called for it.
