Difference between Calculate and Sum

[Anonymous]

Hi all, 

As I am exploring DAX, I wonder if there is a difference between Calculate and Sum in DAX.

Hope to receive guidance from yall.

Cheers!

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

I think it is best explained in this blog post below by PowerPivotPro.

What a SUM does is it will SUM the values to give you a total.

What CALCULATE will do is give you the ability to change the filter context of your measure. And this is where you can do some amazing things with CALCULATE like YTD, Prior YTD etc using CALCULATE.

https://powerpivotpro.com/2014/10/sum-sumx-or-calculatechoices-choices/