In Excel reference refers to a cell reference - such as A1 or range reference - such as A1:A10.

Relative References: These are cell references that CHANGE when you copy and paste the FORMULA that has the references. To give you a simple example, if you put =A10 in cell A1, and then you copy cell A1 and paste it in cell A2, the reference would change to A11. This happens as this is a relative cell reference and it changes relative to the cell its copied from.

Absolute References: These are the references that remain the same and don't change copy and paste the formula that has the references. For example, if you put =$A$10 in cell A1 and then copy cell A1 and paste it in cell A2, the reference would still remain $A$10. The $ SIGN before the column alphabet and the row NUMBER makes it absolute.

In Excel reference refers to a cell reference - such as A1 or range reference - such as A1:A10.

Relative References: These are cell references that change when you copy and paste the formula that has the references. To give you a simple example, if you put =A10 in cell A1, and then you copy cell A1 and paste it in cell A2, the reference would change to A11. This happens as this is a relative cell reference and it changes relative to the cell its copied from.

Absolute References: These are the references that remain the same and don't change copy and paste the formula that has the references. For example, if you put =$A$10 in cell A1 and then copy cell A1 and paste it in cell A2, the reference would still remain $A$10. The $ sign before the column alphabet and the row number makes it absolute.