Question

Which formula would appear if you copied and pasted the cell containing the formula =SUM(A1:A4) from cell A5 to cell C6?

Answer 1

Well, A→C
And if 5→6 then 1→2 and 4→5

So it is =SUM(C2;C5)

Answer 2

I think this is something you should just try on your own.

Answer 3

@wio has the right explanation. Since we are moving the formula to both a new column and a new row, both moves must be applied i.e., 2 columns over and 1 row down.

One way to think about spreadsheet formulas is as blocks. Stop looking at formulas as a single cell. Instead look at them as blocks containing all the cells that are involved in the formula. This got me to understand how formulas worked when you moved them or or copied them to another cell and whether I needed to preserve the data being calculated or not.

For example, in your question copying the formula from A5 to C6 may be necessary in order to allow for a header or perhaps for some other data columns to be inserted. In this instance the data in A1-A4 needs to be moved too. If you picture the data as that block from A1-A5 and visually move it so the formula is in C6, you can see that all the data follows it to encompass C2-C5.

Another example: Say the data A1-A4 needs to stay where it is, but you need to move the formula to C6 for whatever reason. In this case you are going to want to preserve the columns and rows that contain the data so that the C6 is still SUM(A1:A4). In this case you would have to change your formula in A5 slightly before copying it. Since you want to preserve both the column and the row that the data is in you would use absolutes for the beginning and ending row and column The formula in A5 would need to look like SUM($A$1:$A$4) before copying or moving it to C6.