What does the cell reference $A1 signify?

The cell reference $A1 indicates that the column reference is fixed while the row reference remains relative. This means that when you copy the formula or cell reference to another location in the worksheet, the column 'A' will not change, but the row number will adjust based on the position where it is copied.

In practical terms, if you have a formula in cell $A1 and you copy it to cell $B1 or $C1, the reference will still point to column 'A' for its calculations and will refer to the original row, which is row 1. In contrast, if you were to place it in another row, say row 2, it would change to $A2.

This type of referencing is particularly useful when you want to maintain a reference to a specific column while allowing adjustments to the row number for calculations based on different data sets aligned in those rows.