A method for receiving a reference signal, comprising: determining, by a terminal device, a location of a resource element to which a reference signal is mapped; determining, by the terminal device, a reference signal sequence corresponding to the resource element, wherein an index of each element in the reference signal sequence is determined based on a resource block index of a resource block corresponding to the resource element, a quantity of resource elements that carry the reference signal in the resource block, a resource block offset, and an inter-symbol offset; and receiving, by the terminal device, the reference signal by using the resource element, and performing channel estimation or channel sounding based on the received reference signal and the reference signal sequence, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the reference signal sequence corresponding to the resource element comprises: determining, by the terminal device, that an index m of a reference signal sequence r(m) corresponding to a location ( k, l) of the resource element is: m = K· ( n PRB + n offset)+ K · l· Δ + m',m' = 0 - 1, wherein k is a subcarrier index corresponding to the resource element, / is a time domain symbol index corresponding to the resource element, m is an index of an element in the reference signal sequence, n PRB is the resource block index, K represents the quantity of resource elements that carry the reference signal in the resource block, n offset is the resource block offset, and Δ is the inter-symbol offset. determining, by a terminal device, a location of a resource element to which a reference signal is mapped; determining, by the terminal device, a reference signal sequence corresponding to the resource element, wherein an index of each element in the reference signal sequence is determined based on a resource block index of a resource block corresponding to the resource element, a quantity of resource elements that carry the reference signal in the resource block, a resource block offset, and an inter-symbol offset; and receiving, by the terminal device, the reference signal by using the resource element, and performing channel estimation or channel sounding based on the received reference signal and the reference signal sequence, wherein the determining, by the terminal device, the reference signal sequence corresponding to the resource element comprises: determining, by the terminal device, that an index m of a reference signal sequence r(m) corresponding to a location ( k, l) of the resource element is: m = K· ( n PRB + n offset)+ K · l· Δ + m',m' = 0 - 1, wherein k is a subcarrier index corresponding to the resource element, / is a time domain symbol index corresponding to the resource element, m is an index of an element in the reference signal sequence, n PRB is the resource block index, K represents the quantity of resource elements that carry the reference signal in the resource block, n offset is the resource block offset, and Δ is the inter-symbol offset. determining, by the terminal device, that an index m of a reference signal sequence r(m) corresponding to a location ( k, l) of the resource element is: m = K· ( n PRB + n offset)+ K · l· Δ + m',m' = 0 - 1, wherein k is a subcarrier index corresponding to the resource element, / is a time domain symbol index corresponding to the resource element, m is an index of an element in the reference signal sequence, n PRB is the resource block index, K represents the quantity of resource elements that carry the reference signal in the resource block, n offset is the resource block offset, and Δ is the inter-symbol offset.