In excel how do I reference the current row but a specific column?

32
votes

Let's say I had the datasheet

A  B  C  D
-----------
5  4  6  3
4  4  3  2
5  4  6  2

And I wanted to do something like 

A  B  C  D  E                  F
----------------------------------------------
5  4  6  3  =AVERAGE(A1,C1)    =AVERAGE(B1,D1)
4  4  3  2  =AVERAGE(A2,C2)    =AVERAGE(B2,D2)
5  4  6  2  =AVERAGE(A3,C3)    =AVERAGE(B3,D3)

So basically I want to make a formula that uses the current row but a specific column to find the average values. Is there a way to do this? Especially to automatic it down the entirety of each column (assuming all the columns are the same height)?

2
excelexcel-formulaexcel-2010

2 Answers

36
votes

To static either a row or a column, put a $ sign in front of it. So if you were to use the formula =AVERAGE($A1,$C1) and drag it down the entire sheet, A and C would remain static while the 1 would change to the current row

If you're on Windows, you can achieve the same thing by repeatedly pressing F4 while in the formula editing bar. The first F4 press will static both (it will turn A1 into $A$1), then just the row (A$1) then just the column ($A1)

Although technically with the formulas that you have, dragging down for the entirety of the column shouldn't be a problem without putting a $ sign in front of the column. Setting the column as static would only come into play if you're dragging ACROSS columns and want to keep using the same column, and setting the row as static would be for dragging down rows but wanting to use the same row.

67
votes

If you dont want to hard-code the cell addresses you can use the ROW() function.

eg: =AVERAGE(INDIRECT("A" & ROW()), INDIRECT("C" & ROW()))

Its probably not the best way to do it though! Using Auto-Fill and static columns like @JaiGovindani suggests would be much better.