In the SUMIF function, what do you specify as the second argument?

In the SUMIF function, the second argument is crucial as it specifies the criteria that determines which cells will be summed. This argument allows you to define a condition that the data must meet for their corresponding values to be included in the total. For example, if you wanted to sum only the sales figures that exceed a certain value, you would set that value as your criteria.

While the first argument designates the range of cells to be evaluated based on the criteria, the second argument (the criteria itself) effectively filters this range, guiding Excel on which specific cells' corresponding values in the sum range should be considered. This is why correctly identifying the second argument is vital to achieving the desired summation from the data set based on specific conditions.