Help on Understanding a formula (2000/9.0 6926 SP-3)

[wdwells]

I am missing some fundamental point and would dearly appreciate clarification.
I find that the following two formulae provide the same results. where I expected the second to return only the results from cell C1.

=SUMIF('Unique DB'!$AR:$AR,$R2,'T21'!C:C)
=SUMIF('Unique DB'!$AR:$AR,$R2,'T21'!C$1:C$1)

TIA

[HansV]

Apparently, Excel takes the first cell in the 3rd argument and expands it to the same size as the 1st argument. In other words, it doesn't matter whether you specify a single cell or a range as 3rd argument, Excel always sums the range of the same size as the 1st argument, starting at the upper left corner of the 3rd argument (if provided).

[wdwells]

Thank you for the speedy and clear response Hans.

[Rudi]

Aparently is the right word. I've used SUMIF many times and I've never been aware of this behaviour before. Thanx for sharing it Don!

[HansV]

I wasn't either, so I tried various sized ranges as the 3rd argument, and the result was the same as long as the range started in the same cell.