You work as an Office Assistant for Peach Tree Inc. Your responsibility includes creating sales
incentive report of all sales managers for every quarter. You are using Microsoft Excel to create a
worksheet for preparing the report. You have inserted the sales figures of all sales managers as
shown in the image given below:

You have to calculate the first quarter incentives for all sales managers. The incentive percentage
(provided in cell B3) is fixed for all sales managers. The incentive will be calculated on their total first
quarter sales. You have to write a formula in the cell F8. Then you will drag the cell border to the cell
F12 to copy the formula to all the cells from F8 to F12. In the first step, you select the F8 cell. Which
of the following formulas will you insert to accomplish the task?

A.
=B3/100 * $E$8

B.
=$B$3/100 * E8

C.
=B3/100 * E8

D.
=B3/100 * &E&8

E.
=&B&3/100 * E8

Explanation:
In order to accomplish the task, you will have to insert the following formula:
=$B$3/100 * E8
According to the question, the formula will be inserted in cell F8 and then the cell’s border will be
dragged to the F12 cell. Furthermore, the incentive percentage is fixed for all sales managers and the
value is provided in the cell B3. You will have to insert a formula that refers to the B3 cell as an

absolute reference. For this you will have to type currency symbol ($) before the row name and
column number. In order to accomplish the task, type the following formula in the cell F8:
=$B$3/100 * E8
When absolute reference is used for referencing a cell in a formula, dragging cell’s border to another
cell does not change the cell’s reference.
Answer C and A are incorrect. This formula references the B3 cell as a relative reference. After
inserting the formula, when the cell’s border is dragged, it will change the cell reference relatively.
Answer E and D are incorrect. Ampersand symbol (&) is not used for referencing cells in Excel.