Sum

Sum

Summation is the operation of adding a sequence of numbers; the result is their sum or total. If numbers are added sequentially from left to right, any intermediate result is a partial sum, prefix sum, or running total of the summation. The numbers to be summed (called addends, or sometimes summands) may be integers, rational numbers, real numbers, or complex numbers. Besides numbers, other types of values can be added as well: vectors, matrices, polynomials and, in general, elements of any additive group (or even monoid). For finite sequences of such elements, summation always produces a well-defined sum (possibly by virtue of the convention for empty sums).

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Famous quotes containing the word sum:

    Genius is no more than childhood recaptured at will, childhood equipped now with man’s physical means to express itself, and with the analytical mind that enables it to bring order into the sum of experience, involuntarily amassed.
    Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)

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    —A.E. (Alfred Edward)

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    Stefan Zweig (18811942)