What is the use of SUM function in Excel?

Data Science, AI and ML
,
#1

The SUM function in excel adds the numerical values in a range of cells. Being categorized under the Math and Trigonometry function, it is entered by typing “=SUM” followed by the values to be summed. The values supplied to the function can be numbers, cell references or ranges.

  • Return value : The sum of values supplied.
    Syntax

=SUM (number1, [number2], [number3], ...)

  • Arguments

number1 - The first value to sum.

number2 - [optional] The second value to sum.

number3 - [optional] The third value to sum.

Example:

Typically, the SUM function is used with ranges. For example:

=SUM(A1:A9) // sum 9 cells in A1:A9 
=SUM(A1:F1) // sum 6 cells in A1:F1 
=SUM(A1:A100) // sum 100 cells in A1:A100

Values in all arguments are summed together, so the following formulas are equivalent:

=SUM(A1:A5) 
=SUM(A1,A2,A3,A4,A5) 
=SUM(A1:A3,A4:A5)