Final answer:
In a spreadsheet, copying a formula results in relative cell references changing to adapt to the new location while absolute references remain fixed to the cells they originally referred to.
Step-by-step explanation:
When you copy a formula to another cell in a spreadsheet, relative cell references change, while absolute cell references remain constant. This is reflected in option A). The reason for this behavior is that relative references are designed to adjust when a formula is copied to a different cell to maintain the relative positioning (e.g., one cell to the right, or two cells down) from the new location. Conversely, absolute references are prefixed with a dollar sign (e.g., $A$1) to indicate that the reference should stay fixed on a specific cell, regardless of where the formula is copied.
For example, if you have a formula in cell B1 that refers to cell A1 as a relative reference (written as A1), and you copy that formula to cell B2, the reference will change to A2 to maintain the position one cell to the left. However, if you use an absolute reference in cell B1 (written as $A$1), and copy this formula to cell B2, the reference will still be to $A$1.
Relative cell references are adjusted based on the new location of the formula. For example, if you have a formula that adds the values in cells A1 and A2, copying this formula to cell B1 would automatically update the cell references to B1 and B2.
On the other hand, absolute cell references are fixed and do not change when a formula is copied to a different cell. An example of an absolute cell reference is $A$1, which will always refer to cell A1 no matter where the formula is copied.