People often use Microsoft Excel to organize and format their data. But did you know that you can also add, subtract, multiply, and divide two or more values in excel itself? You can basically use your excel as both a calculator and a data tracker. With excel, you can sum incredibly complex numbers easily with the help of a few simple formulas.
How to Sum Values in MS Excel
You can add numbers in MS Excel in various methods. In this article, we are going to discuss the ways we can sum values in MS Excel.
Using Status Bar
One of the easiest solutions to view the total value is by looking into the Status Bar for the sum.This way, you can add numbers in excel quickly.
Using AutoSum
AutoSum is the most used function in excel to add up big values. You can find it in the Formulas tab. This easily adds up the value of your chosen row or columnWith AutoSum by your side, you won’t have to take any pressure about not being able to remember any formulas. However, this doesn’t come in handy when you have to add numbers from unassociated groups of rows or columns. We use spreadsheets for making report cards and data analysis where straight add ups of numbers won’t be enough. I have categorized some functions, which are primarily formulas, which you can use to add up complex values from all sorts of places.Let’s take this chart as our example. Here, we add the ratings of the different foods from day 1 to day 5.
Plus Sign Function
Adding large numbers manually can be frustrating, but with excel spreadsheet, you can easily sum them up. If you are wondering how one can do it, read it till the end to learn it the correct way. Here, let’s add the total rating of food 1 on day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, and day 5. Similar to AutoSum, you can only use this function to add values of a specific row or column. As you can see, the food ratings of food 1 on day 1 which is on cell B2 is 8, on day 2 on cell C2 is 7, and so on.Tapping on numbers one by one might get hectic. If you want to try something easier and less troublesome, the SUM function is the way to go
SUM Function
This function is best suited for large data. With the help of the sum function, you can add any cell from every row and column. The general formula for sum function is =SUM( )If you are in a hurry, you can use the following shortcut keys for faster operations:To understand and use this function in more detailed approach, follow the steps mentioned belowThe sum of total value appears on the selected cell. As shown below, we have made another column for the total. Cell H3 is the selected cell for food 2’s total rating Alternatively, you can type a formula to calculate the sum of this data. For food 3, write the formula =SUM(B4:F4). Since we need the sum value of B4, C4, D4, E4, and F4, we have to enter the first and last cell. You can also select the first cell and drag it all the way to the end cell.No matter the process, the output of both these techniques will come the same. Even if we use the function icon, we will get the same value. In some cases, you have to add a row but you must omit some values. Suppose you have to add the first two values and the last two values. Let’s omit the third day in our food 5 dataIn this way, you can add different values from different cells. You don’t have to worry about not being able to add random numbers from different rows and columns to your sheet.Likewise, the total value you get using this method to add will also be the same.
SUMIF Function
We apply the Sum If function for adding a definite value from data. Our chart has less data so finding a few cells and adding them isn’t hard. But in the case of large data, searching for a few cells one by one is not possible. We use this if they belong to certain criteria of a data. As you can see in the 10th column, we summed up total ratings on each day.Now, suppose we have to add two values that fall in the k category. Let’s take these two values from cells B10 and D10 and add them. As mentioned before, we can’t search them and add in large data. It takes forever. If we add these two cells directly, we get 82 as our total value. Now, here’s how you do it using the SUM IF functionHere, we are going to evaluate the range for k. The range is the area or number of cells which you want to calculate i.e., the row or column where the criteria are located. You can also type the formula =SUMIF() on the cell where you want the sum and mention the range, criteria and sum range inside the bracket. Criteria are the category that you are looking for in the cell to add up. K is the criteria.And Sum-range is the values that you add. This means that if the system finds k in the range, it adds the values next to it from the sum-range. As you can see, the values we got by using the sum if function is the same as the one we got from using the sum function. In this way, you can add numbers in MS Excel very quickly.
SUMIFS Function
Similar to SUMIF function, you can apply this function to add definite value that falls under more than one criteria. To use SUMIFS function, In this way, you can mention multiple criteria and evaluate the sum of different values in your excel using SUMIFS Function.
