Phil, It actually makes sense when you think about it. Say you have a cell in table 2, say cell A1, which references a column in another table, say column 1 of table 1. Now whether or not our cell A1 of table 2 uses absolute or relative references, if you were to copy column 1 of table one, paste it in, say, column 3 of table 1 and then delete the original column 1 of table 1, our cell A1 of table 2 would now be pointing at the wrong data, because its still pointing at column 1 of table 1. On the other hand, if we were to have dragged column 1 of table one into some other position (e.g. column 3 position) using the drag and drop method, Numbers is smart enough to work out what's happening and update your formula in cell A1 of table 2 to point to the new position, so now cell A1 of table 2 would reference column 3 of table 1. So it's really something different altogether to absolute and relative references. Put another way, absolute and relative references are relevant when the cell containing the formula is being moved, but not when the formula cell is staying put and the data cells are being moved.
On 9 Aug 2014, at 11:09 pm, Phil Halton <[email protected]> wrote: > how about that! That's strange and makes very little sense to me. It kind of > undercuts the whole concept of relative and absolute addressing, and implies > that numbers is correcting for the addressing depending on the method of > moving involved. > Oh well, good to know, thanks. > > On Aug 9, 2014, at 1:35 AM, Nicholas Parsons <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Hi Phil, >> >> With respect, I think you're wrong. I experimented by creating the same >> formula referencing the same data table, with one version using relative >> references and a second version using absolute references. When I moved one >> of the data columns with the mouse method, both formulas continued to >> display the same and correct results. However, when I copied and pasted the >> data column to the new location both formulas displayed formula errors. >> >> Maybe this depends on the types of formulas you're using. Why don't you >> experiment and see. I'd be interested in hearing your results. The more I >> know about Numbers the better for me. >> >> On 8 Aug 2014, at 11:14 pm, Phil Halton <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Regardless of the method you used to move a column, the formulas contained >>> there in will be affected. The addressing method holds whether you copy and >>> paste the formula or whether you drag-and-drop it, or whether you use some >>> other method. Regardless of how you move it, if there is relative or >>> absolute addressing conflicts, the formula will be negatively affected. >>> >>> Sent from my IPhone >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
