- Lesson 1: Excel Skills Used in this Resource
- 1.1 Absolute Cell References
- 1.2 Absolute Value
- 1.3 Basic Calculations
- 1.4 Cell Formatting
- 1.5 Cell References
- 1.6 Conditional Formatting
- 1.7 COUNTIF Function
- 1.8 DATEDIF Function
- 1.9 Displaying Decimal Places
- 1.10 Drop-Down Lists
- 1.11 IF Statement
- 1.12 Nested IF Statements
- 1.13 PV Function
- 1.14 SUM FunctionThis is the current section.
- 1.15 SUMIF Function
- 1.16 VLOOKUP Function
1.14 SUM Function
The sum function in Excel is an efficient way to add up the contents in several cells. To use the sum function, click on the cell where you want the solution to be. Insert the function into that cell by following the pattern shown in the figure below. Notice that the sum function "references" cells D2:D4. In this context, the colon ":" means "through," so D2:D4 means that the program should sum (add up) cells D2 through D4.