Sep 06, 2016

SUMPRODUCT is about more than sums and products.

This is what Excel's Insert Function feature says of SUMPRODUCT: 'Returns the sum of the products of corresponding ranges or arrays'. But SUMPRODUCT is a much more versatile function than this description suggests, and it is not limited to the summation of products.

The syntax of SUMPRODUCT as indicated by Excel is this:

SUMPRODUCT(array1,array2,array3, ...)

In this context an array is a continuous range of cells in a row or column. The number of cells must be the same in each array, as in this example of a formula:

=SUMPRODUCT(B2:B11,C2:C11)

When applied to the following simple spreadsheet the result of the formula is 770:

(1*2)+(2*4)+(3*6)+ … + (10*20) = 770

The same result is achieved by this version of the formula, in which an asterisk replaces the comma:

=SUMPRODUCT(B2:B11*C2:C11) - Multiply

It follows that the sign replacing the comma separating the arrays determines the mathematical operation that SUMPRODUCT engages between the pairs of values in the two arrays.

Thus this SUMPRODUCT returns the result 165:

SUMPRODUCT(B2:B11+C2:C11) = (1+2)+(2+4)+(3+6)+ … + (10+20) - Addition

And this one returns the result 5:

SUMPRODUCT(B2:B11/C2:C11) = (1÷2)+(2÷4)+(3÷6)+ … + (10÷20) - Division

The examples above are based on arrays arranged in columns. SUMPRODUCT works equally well with arrays of values arranged in rows.

For more information, take a look at New Horizons' Microsoft Excel training courses.