Excel SUM Function

Summary 

The Excel SUM function returns the sum of values supplied. These values can be numbers, cell references, ranges, arrays, and constants, in any combination. SUM can handle up to 255 individual arguments.

Purpose 

Add numbers together

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.

 Usage notes 

The SUM function returns the sum of values supplied. These values can be numbers, cell references, ranges, arrays, and constants, in any combination. SUM can handle up to 255 individual arguments.

The SUM function takes multiple arguments in the form number1, number2, number3, etc. up to 255 total. Arguments can be a hardcoded constant, a cell reference, or a range. All numbers in the arguments provided are summed. The SUM function automatically ignores empty cells and text values, which makes SUM useful for summing cells that may contain text values.

Examples

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