It sounds like you want a SumIf formula:

Suppose your categories are in A1:A4 and your dollars are in B1:B4 as follows:

A B
1 cat1 9
2 cat2 2
3 cat1 3
4 cat3 4
5
6 cat1 12

where the formula in B6 is: =SUMIF(A1:A4,A6,B1:B4)

Art

"SigmaX" wrote:

Yo;

I have a sheet with two columns (Of significance), one denotes a dollar
amount, and the other an expense category.

Now I want another field, seperate from the above table, to print the
sum of all the dollar amounts from a particular category; i.e. for each
row in table; if ColumnA = "x", return the ColumnB

I'm a relative novice to spreadsheets, so be clear in your
explanations. Excel 2003.
Cheerio,
SigmaX