Master VISUALLY® Excel® 2010

Chapter 10. Working with Common Formulas

Sum Numbers

You can use the SUM function — probably the most commonly used function — to quickly add a group of numbers. This function is used so often by so many people that Excel displays two buttons for it on the Ribbon: one on the Home tab and one on the Formulas tab. Although the one on the Home tab is called the SUM button and the one on the Formulas tab is called the AutoSum button, they both work the same way.

The SUM function uses the format =SUM(arguments). Arguments are parameters (such as a range containing values) that Excel needs to make a calculation. The SUM function requires and typically uses only one argument — the range to add — but you can add several ranges with one SUM function. As ...