ITPEC IP April 2018 Question 20
A certain company holds briefing sessions six times a month to attract customers. To manage the attendees in January by using spreadsheet software, a table is created as shown in cells A1 through D8. Then, to manage the attendees in February, cells A2 through D8 are copied to cells F2 through I8, and cell I3 is corrected. Which of the following is the appropriate expression to be entered into cell I3? Here, when the table for February is copied to the table for March, cells should be filled so that the expressions in cells do not have to be changed.
Explanation
D8+G3 — the year-to-date total after February's 1st session is January's year-to-date total plus the attendees of that session.
The February table repeats the January layout five columns to the right: G is the number of attendees, H the month-to-date total and I the year-to-date total. The year-to-date total so far is D8, January's final one, so I3 = D8 + G3, and I4 = I3 + G4 onward carry it forward. Copied another five columns to the right for March, D8+G3 becomes I8+L3: February's final year-to-date total plus March's 1st session, exactly what is needed.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — adds two January totals and none of February's attendees; January is counted twice
- •(b) — gives the right value in February only because C8 equals D8 in January and H3 equals G3; copied to March it becomes
H8+M3, which drops January - •(d) — adds G8, the attendees of February's 6th session, which has not happened yet at the 1st session
Key rule: A formula copied between tables keeps working only if each relative reference points to a cell with the same role in every table; check the copy, not just the first result.
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