=$B2 not working how I expect

Chicken Champ

New Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2019
Messages
4
I'm not really sure what to call my problem, probably something very easy to look up if I knew what to call this.

I have a sheet where column and row labels are the same values in the same order (B column is Mike, 2 row is Mike, C column is Suzy, 3 row is Suzy...). So B3 (Mike x Suzy) should be the same value as C2 (Mike x Suzy). If I have B3 be the cell where I input value, and C2 "=B3", fine. Problem is dragging that C2 formula down the 2 row... should end up with D2 =B4, E2 =B5, F2 =B6, etc etc. Doesn't want to do that. Starting off with C2 "=$B3" doesn't work either, dragging that is just pulling " = $B3" everywhere even though the $ should only be locking column reference?

What am I missing?
 

Excel Facts

What did Pito Salas invent?
Pito Salas, working for Lotus, popularized what would become to be pivot tables. It was released as Lotus Improv in 1989.
Welcome to the MrExcel board!

Is this, copied to the right what you are looking for?

Excel Workbook
ABCDE
1MikeSuzyKenAnn
2Mikexxabc
3Suzyxx
4Ken
5Annabc
Transpose
 
Upvote 0
Woof, that works, for generating all the "Mike x Suzy etc" stuff in row 2, but I don't really understand what the "COLUMNS($B2:C2)" and " &"" " is doing. I tried to guess that I would step down to "Suzy x Ken etc" with =INDEX($C3:$C5,COLUMNS($C3:D3))&"" things don't quite work the same?
 
Upvote 0
Woof, that works, for generating all the "Mike x Suzy etc" stuff in row 2, but I don't really understand what the "COLUMNS($B2:C2)" and " &"" " is doing. I tried to guess that I would step down to "Suzy x Ken etc" with =INDEX($C3:$C5,COLUMNS($C3:D3))&"" things don't quite work the same?
If you put your suggested formula in D3 in the above layout (that is, the first cell to the right of the diagonal in row 3) then it works for me. :)

Excel Workbook
ABCDE
1MikeSuzyKenAnn
2Mikexxabc
3SuzyxxS-KS-A
4KenS-K
5AnnabcS-A
Transpose


Another option would be to keep referring to rows 2:5 and keep counting the columns from column B like this

Excel Workbook
ABCDE
1MikeSuzyKenAnn
2Mikexxabc
3SuzyxxS-KS-A
4KenS-K
5AnnabcS-A
Transpose
 
Upvote 0
Oh I see, "COLUMNS($x:y)" is just counting number of columns and using that number to reference a row, a way of saying if you're in the second column look at the second row, etc. I still have no idea what the &"" does, but I think I've got enough to at least finish building my table.

Thank you very much!
 
Upvote 0
Oh I see, "COLUMNS($x:y)" is just counting number of columns and using that number to reference a row, a way of saying if you're in the second column look at the second row, etc.
Exactly. :)

I still have no idea what the &"" does,
If you don't have that and any cells in the bottom left section of the table are blank the formula would return a zero (0) instead of blank. I have taken the &"" of the end of this cell's formula for example.

Excel Workbook
ABCDE
1MikeSuzyKenAnn
2Mikexx0abc
3SuzyxxS-KS-A
4KenS-K
5AnnabcS-A
Transpose
 
Upvote 0

Forum statistics

Threads
1,213,510
Messages
6,114,037
Members
448,543
Latest member
MartinLarkin

We've detected that you are using an adblocker.

We have a great community of people providing Excel help here, but the hosting costs are enormous. You can help keep this site running by allowing ads on MrExcel.com.
Allow Ads at MrExcel

Which adblocker are you using?

Disable AdBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Pause on this site" option.
Go back

Disable AdBlock Plus

Follow these easy steps to disable AdBlock Plus

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the toggle to disable it for "mrexcel.com".
Go back

Disable uBlock Origin

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock Origin

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back

Disable uBlock

Follow these easy steps to disable uBlock

1)Click on the icon in the browser’s toolbar.
2)Click on the "Power" button.
3)Click on the "Refresh" button.
Go back
Back
Top