using Sum Function

[oldLearner57]

hi community

when I use the Sum() to add a range and within the range of cells there is 1
cell that has Text data
and
the output of the Sum() function does not display the #value! error
however
when I used the "=" and added up all the cells
the output display the #value! error
can someone kindly enlighten me on this?

thanks community

 

[T. Valko]

It's because the SUM function ignore text but using simple arithmetic does
not:

A1 = 10
A2 = x
A3 = 10

=SUM(A1:A3) = 20

=A1+A2+A3 = #VALUE!

=10+x+10 = #VALUE!