This document introduces notation and techniques for working with sums. It discusses various ways to represent sums, including using dots ("...") and Sigma notation. Sigma notation uses a Greek letter Σ to indicate summation. It also introduces Iverson brackets, which allow sums to be expressed without constraints on the index of summation. The document explains that sums and recurrences are closely related, as a sum can be written as a recurrence relation and vice versa. This allows techniques for solving recurrences to also be used for evaluating sums.