Consider an MS-Excel worksheet where column B (rows 18-23) holds Quantity 1, 3, 6, 5, 8, 3 and column C holds Sales Amount 234, 144, 367, 674, 1099, 233. What value does =SUMIFS(C18:C23, B18:B23, ">3", C18:C23, ">500") return?

SUMIFS adds sales only where quantity exceeds 3 and the amount exceeds 500, giving 1773.

Only the rows holding 674 and 1099 meet both tests, and their sum is 1773.

The 367 row is excluded because its amount does not exceed 500 though its quantity does exceed 3.

Adding 367, 674 and 1099 while ignoring the quantity test gives the wrong 2140.

Pairing 367 with 1099 alone yields the wrong 1466, which misreads the conditions.

The plain total of the quantity column, 1 plus 3 plus 6 plus 5 plus 8 plus 3, is the unrelated 26.

SUMIFS combines all its criteria with AND, so every condition must hold for a row to count.