Cumulative Tables and Graphs

Cumulative

Cumulative means "how much so far".

Think of the word "accumulate" which means to gather together.

To have cumulative totals, just add up the values as you go.

To work out the cumulative totals, just add up as you go.

The first line is easy, the total earned so far is the same as Jamie earned that month:

Month	Earned	Cumulative
March	$120	$120

But for April, the total earned so far is $120 + $50 = $170 :

Month	Earned	Cumulative
March	$120	$120
April	$50	$170

And for May we continue to add up: $170 + $110 = $280

Do you see how we add this month's earnings to the previous month's cumulative total?

Here is the calculation for the rest:

And this is the result

The last cumulative total should match the total of all earnings:

$450 is the last cumulative total ...
... it is also the total of all earnings:

$120+$50+$110+$100+$50+$20 = $450

So we got it right.

So that's how to do it, add up as you go down the list and you will have cumulative totals.

We could also call it a "Running Total"

We can make cumulative graphs, too. Just plot each cumulative total:

Like this:

Cumulative Bar Graph

Or this:

Cumulative Line Graph