Learning Excel: SUM
Adding up with SUM
The Week sheet has every day from Tuesday to Sunday: on Mondays the chip shop is closed. "How many customers was that altogether?" Fern asks. Time for your first function.
A function
You can add up six days with =B2+B3+B4+B5+B6+B7, but for a whole year you'd be typing until your fingers ache.
That's why there are functions: ready-made calculations. SUM adds up a whole range. B8 holds =SUM(B2:B7): all the customers of the week together.
=SUM(B2:B7)
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Day | Customers | Revenue | Costs | Profit |
| 2 | Tuesday | 84 | £612.40 | £238.00 | |
| 3 | Wednesday | 131 | £978.60 | £312.00 | |
| 4 | Thursday | 96 | £701.20 | £255.00 | |
| 5 | Friday | 212 | £1,694.80 | £498.00 | |
| 6 | Saturday | 247 | £1,987.50 | £561.00 | |
| 7 | Sunday | 175 | £1,342.90 | £402.00 | |
| 8 | Total | 945 | |||
| 9 |
Name and arguments
You write a function as its name, followed by its arguments in brackets: what it has to work with. For SUM, that's whatever you want to add up.
Excel also has an AutoSum button (Σ). It writes SUM for you and picks a range by itself. Always check that range before you press Enter.
Try it yourself
In D8, add up all the costs of the week with SUM.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Day | Customers | Revenue | Costs | Profit |
| 2 | Tuesday | 84 | £612.40 | £238.00 | |
| 3 | Wednesday | 131 | £978.60 | £312.00 | |
| 4 | Thursday | 96 | £701.20 | £255.00 | |
| 5 | Friday | 212 | £1,694.80 | £498.00 | |
| 6 | Saturday | 247 | £1,987.50 | £561.00 | |
| 7 | Sunday | 175 | £1,342.90 | £402.00 | |
| 8 | Total | ||||
| 9 |
Ready for more?
The full lesson has 5 exercises, from easy to challenging, with hints, points and a streak you can build.
Start the lesson