training microsoft excel - Relative and absolute referencing

Hi Gilly. The simplest explanation is that relative referencing does not using the "$" sign, whereas absolute referencing does! A formula using a relative cell reference will, when copied elsewhere, update to refer to the cell which is relative to the position of the cell in which the formula now is. Conversely, a formula which employs an absolute cell reference, won't. The formula stays "looking at" a specific cell range.

A good primer in this is here:

http://techonthenet.com/excel/questions/referencing.php

Hope this helps,

Anthony