Sigma Notation

This symbol (called Sigma) means "sum up"

I love Sigma, it is fun to use, and can do many clever things.

So

means to sum things up ...

Sum What? Sum whatever appears after the Sigma:				so we sum n
But What is the Value of n ? The values are shown below and above the Sigma:				it says n goes from 1 to 4, so that is 1, 2, 3 and 4
OK, Let's Go ... So now we add up 1,2,3 and 4:

Here it is in one diagram:

More Powerful

But Σ can do more powerful things than that!

You could square n each time and sum the result:

You could "add up the first four terms in the sequence 2n+1":

And you don't have to use n. Here we use i and sum up i × (i+1), going from 1 to 3:

And you can start and end with any number. Here we go from 3 to 5:

Try some of your own!

And now you get the idea, you might like to read the more advanced topic Partial Sums.

Why is it called "Sigma"

Sigma is the upper case letter S in Greek. And S stands for Sum.