What happens when you change the value of a cell that is referenced elsewhere in a formula?

Answer 1

If the second cell uses the value from the cell that has changed, then it too is likely to change, depending on the nature of the calculation it does. Usually it will change, but not always. If it is totalling values or getting averages or something like that, then it will change. But that is not always the case. Say for example it is a value for an exam result and the other cell shows either the word "Pass" or "Fail" depending on the result. If the result was already high enough to give them a pass and then the mark was increased even further, the other cell would still say "Pass". So changing the cell would have no effect on the other cell. A formula showing the highest value in a range of cells, might not change if one of the values was changed, but didn't become the highest. A formula to count the amount of values in a range, would not change if one of the numbers was changed. Usually things will change, but sometimes it won't so it depends on the formula.

Answer 2

When a value in a spreadsheet is changed, all formulas in the entire spreadsheet are re-calculated. Any cells with formulas that use the value that has been changed may themselves change their results. This may cause the results of other formulas to change. This is the whole point of using a spreadsheet, in that changing a value can cause lots of changes automatically, whereas they would all have to be done individually if you were doing it on paper.