RE: DSUM

Dear Claire

Thank you for your question!!

D is the abbreviation for database. So DSum stands for Database Sum.

You may recall from the advanced course that you did with us that the most important part of any database function is the Criteria range.

Please refer to the uploaded file to understand the below demonstartion:

There are three parts to a database function:
a) Database
b) Field
c) Criteria

In the uploaded example:
We are trying to calculate the sum of salary in the accounts dept.
On Cell C1 we will put the DSUM function where:
A3: D7 is our database
D3 is our Field that we want the calculation performed
A1:A2 is our criteria range

There are few important things to remember when you deal with Database functions.
It is advisable to copy and paste the fields from your database when you are creating your criteria range as any spelling mistake in the criteria range will give you either a wrong answer or an error!!

Also in the Field box you can either type in the Column letter or the call reference or the name of the heading that needs to be calculated.

I hope this helps:

Please let me know if you have any thing that you might want me to clarify further!!

Kindest Regards

Rajeev Rawat
MOS Master Instructor 2000 and 2003