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How to sum diagonal of a range in Excel?

When you do some arithmetic calculations, you may need to sum numbers diagonally in a table. In fact, you can also sum diagonal numbers in Excel which doesn’t require you to sum the numbers one by one. If you want to know more about this question, please read the following article.

Sum diagonal cells of a range in Excel

arrow blue right bubble Sum diagonal cells of a range in Excel

Supposing I have the following data range, and now I want to get the result of the summation of the diagonal cells.


1. Sum cells diagonal down and to the right

If you want to sum the cells diagonal from top left corner to lower right corner（A1+B2+C3+D4）, the following formulas can help you.

Please enter this formula =SUM(A1:D4*(ROW(A1:D4)=COLUMN(A1:D4))) into a blank cell, see screenshot:


And then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together, and you will get the result as you want.


2. Sum cells diagonal up and to the right

To sum the diagonal cells from lower left corner to top right corner (A4+B3+C2+D1), you should apply the following formula: =SUM(A1:D4*(ROWS(A1:D4)+1-ROW(A1:D4)=COLUMN(A1:D4))), and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys to get the correct result. See screenshots:



1. The arguments A1: D4 is the data range that you want to sum the diagonal cells.

2. These formulas only are applied to the range cells which have the same column number and row number, such as 5 column and 5 row.

Related article:

How to sum all digits in a number in Excel?

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  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Celesta · 2 years ago
    Thanks for finally writing about >How to sum diagonal of a range
    in Excel?
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    phil · 2 years ago
    Thank you so much for your good information, I would like to know how I can multiply a triangular range say a triangle SUM of triangle A1,E1,A5, (this triangle is static and used as the "multiplier"). So this range of cells multiplies the range of cells G1,K1,G5 then the results are put in the range of cells I1,M1,I5. Once this is done I want to be able to slide down the triangle G1 because G2, K1 becomes K2 and G5 becomes G6. and so on with all the results put in the triangle where I1 become I2 and so on. Thank you so much for your help
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    phil · 2 years ago
    This is great! how can I SUM the triangle in figure 2? Imagine a triangle that has the following 3 corners A1 D1 A4 thank you so much!!!
  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    Karl Ranson · 4 years ago
    Hi there,
    What would the formula be if I wanted for 2nd scenario if the matrix started on, say, D22?
    In other words, how do I compensate for larger row/column numbers than starting at 1 (ie A1)?
    Thanks, Karl
    • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
      Scott Noyes · 1 years ago
      Instead of ROW(A1:D4) = COLUMN(A1:D4), use: (ROW(A1:D4)-COLUMN(A1:D4))=(ROW()-COLUMN())