As a general rule, when you're dealing with a single condition use
SUMIF/COUNTIF. When you're dealing with more than one condition use
SUMPRODUCT.

However, there are times when you can use SUMIF/COUNTIF for multiple
conditions.

See this for more info on SUMPRODUCT:

http://xldynamic.com/source/xld.SUMPRODUCT.html

Also of note, if you're using Excel 2007 it comes with 2 new functions that
are a combination of SUMPRODUCT and SUMIF/COUNTIF. Those new functions are
called SUMIFS and COUNTIFS. They give you the efficiency of SUMIF/COUNTIF
combined with *some* of the functionality of SUMPRODUCT all rolled into a
single function.


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Rob" wrote in message
...
I was wondering if I can get an opinion on which is better; SUMIF OR
SUMPRODUCT. I suspect the answer will be SuMPRODUCT, however there are so
many ways of using this function that I can't get a grasp of how to use it
in
what situation. So IF the resounding answer is indeed SUMPRODUCT - Can
someone point me to a place/resource where I can finally fully learn and
understand that function? Please?

Here are two examples of the same exact result that got me to wonder about
this...

SUMIF:
=IF(SUMIF(Sheet3!$B$3:$B$803,Sheet1!$C19,Sheet3!$F $3:$F$803)0,SUMIF(Sheet3!$B$3:$B$803,Sheet1!$C19, Sheet3!$F$3:$F$803),"-")

SUMPRODUCT:
=IF(SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet3!$B$3:$B$803=Sheet1!$C19),Sheet3!$F$3:$F$80 3)=0,"-",SUMPRODUCT(--(Sheet3!$B$3:$B$803=Sheet1!$C19),Sheet3!$F$3:$F$80 3))


Thank You Very Much in Advance!
Rob