\(\Sigma\)
This is the Greek capital letter "sigma." In math, this symbol is also known as a summation. This tells us that we should add a series of numbers (i.e., take the sum).
Example: Candy Section
Four children are counting how many pieces of candy they each have. They want to know how many pieces of candy they have all together.
| Child | Pieces of Candy |
|---|---|
| Jenny | 9 |
| Carrie | 8 |
| Eugenia | 10 |
| Kevin | 8 |
If we wanted to know how many total pieces of candy the group of children had, we could add these four numbers. The notation for this is \(\sum x_{i}\).
\(\sum x_{i}=9+8+10+8=35\)
Combined, the four children have a total of 35 pieces of candy.