From the course: Getting Started with Microsoft 365

Using the SUM function

From the course: Getting Started with Microsoft 365

Using the SUM function

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- [Instructor] When you're keeping track of numbers in a spreadsheet, Excel can save you time by doing the math quickly and accurately for you, with something as important and detailed as your monthly expenses, having everything added up automatically, helps you make sense of all that information. With the sum function you can easily add large amounts of data together. In this lesson, I'll show you how to use this powerful tool to transform an extended list of numbers into a simple sum total. To get started, download the exercise file and pull up the sample budget in Excel. The sample budget contains a list of expenses and each expense has a cost next to it. If you want to know how much you'll need to pay for all these expenses you'll need to know the total cost in one single value, that's where the sum function can help. First consider where you want the total amount to be displayed, I'll choose cell E 2 as the home for this sum function so it's at the top and easy to find. Now you'll need to determine either the exact cells to add up or the range of numbers you want to add, where they begin and end. In this example of monthly expenses I want to include every item in the total sum. Those expenses start at cell B 2 and end at cell B 8, so I'll use this as the range of data. Now it's time to put a formula to work and create a sum function. First, select on the cell where you want to place your sum, type in =sum then open parentheses which tells the program that you want the total amount of whatever will be inside the parentheses. Once that open parentheses is added, I'm able to specify the range by selecting the first cell, B 2, and dragging down to the final cell, B 8. I'll close the parentheses, press enter, and the sum will populate. I'll add a title for my total expenses so I know what's captured in the cell. If you wanted non-consecutive numbers summed up instead of adding a range of cells to the parentheses just type the cells that you want in that space. For example, if I only wanted to know the cost for housing and transportation, I would first select the cell where I want to view my sum, type =sum open parentheses, then select B2, add a comma, then select B5, close parenthesis, press enter, and those two cells will be added together. Now you can use the sum function anytime you need to quickly add values to Excel, no calculator needed.

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