Selective changing of row numbers while dragging/copying a function (or another solution?)

[eitatetaata]

First of all - hello to all of you, as I'm new to this forum,

I need to convert a long column of data into different units. I wrote a converter to do that - I have a cell with a multicoeffictient formula (a 4th order polynomial) and the coefficients in separate cells.

What I'd like to do is to find an easy way to apply this function to every element of the column.

I enter the function to convert the first element, but unfortunately when I drag it downwards/copy it to cover the rest of the cells, the function changes the row numbers of every element of the formula - and so it changes not only the argument (which I want to change), but also the coefficients (which I want to stay the same).
Is there an elegant way to keep some of the row numbers unchanged while dragging a formula?

I also see another solution (that I also don't know how to introduce). I would keep the formula in a fixed cell (say, A1), and it would use the coefficients (A2-A6) and the argument (A7). Then the formula to convert the cells would have to do something like this:
"this cell should be equal to what A1 would be with A7 equal to [cell to the left]".
Is there a way to do such a thing in Excel? (C++ is so much easier )

There is, of course, the barbaric way to do this - to copy every coefficient into a column of the same length, and then drag the formula anyway, as the changing rows would contain the same coefficients. However, I would really like to avoid such a solution, as it produces an enormous quantity of unnecessary data, and I have way too much of that as it is.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[TMS]

You're going to have to tell us what the formula is, and which are the coefficients. Ideally, a sample workbook would help set the context.

You use a dollar sign $ to "lock" or make absolute a column or row. So you could have, $A$1, $A1, A$1, or A1. If you use $A$1 that cell address will not change whether you drag it down or across.


Regards, TMS

[eitatetaata]

Actually, the information that you gave me is enough. I have no idea how I managed to live so many years not knowing about the use of the dollar sign.

Thank you very much, problem solved!

[TMS]

You're welcome.

[Tony Valko]

You may find this helpful:

About cell and range references

[TMS]

@Tony: that link doesn't work

[Tony Valko]

@Tony: that link doesn't work

Hmmm...it used to work.

OK, edited the post and put in a good working link.

[TMS]