BeginnerMath Functions
Total a month of sales with SUM
Add up a column of daily sales figures to get the monthly total.
SUM
3 min10 points
SUM practice exercises
Adds up the numbers in a range. Below are 1 interactive exercise that put it to work on realistic business data — you write the formula, and get told exactly what went wrong when it does not work.
Syntax
SUM(number1, [number2], ...)
Practise SUM
Ordered from most approachable to hardest.
When SUM is the right tool
Adds up the numbers in a range. It belongs to the math functions family, and it shows up constantly in real work — which is why it is worth being genuinely fluent rather than merely familiar.
Reading about a function is not the same as being able to write it. The exercises on this page exist because the gap between recognising SUM and producing it from memory, correctly, on data you have not seen before, only closes by doing it.
Related functions
Questions about SUM
How do I practise SUM without Excel installed?
Every exercise on this page runs in your browser. You type the SUM formula into a real spreadsheet grid and get told immediately whether it works — no download, no account.
What does SUM do?
Adds up the numbers in a range. The syntax is SUM(number1, [number2], ...). The exercises below put it to work on realistic business data rather than abstract examples.
How long does it take to learn SUM?
Most people can write a working SUM formula within twenty minutes of practice. Getting it right under pressure — with edge cases, unsorted data and ranges that must survive being filled down — is what the harder exercises here are for.