The SUM function calculates the total of the values specified by the value expression in its argument. If there are no rows in the result table to which the SUM function is applied, it returns a null value. The SUM function must refer to a value with a numeric or INTERVAL data type. It returns a value of the same general data type (fixed- or floating-point) big enough to store the result. If your dialect is set to an ANSI/ISO SQL standard, a warning message is returned if any of the values is NULL.