【Add】 , 【sum】 , 【total】 , 【tot】 , 【cast】 , 【figure】 and 【foot】 share the meaning to find or represent the amount reached by putting together arithmetically a series of numbers or quantities, and are commonly followed by up.
【Add】 is both the common and the technical word; it commonly implies strict adherence to the traditional arithmetical operation. Even in figurative use it implies a similar operation.
taken as a whole the vignettes and the stories 【add】 up to a single effect —Aldridge
the whole undertime trend adds up to a major consideration for businessmen and employees —Lack
【Sum】 stresses the result attained rather than the method followed. In figurative use 【sum】 up implies a gathering and consolidation into a new whole, especially for the production of a single telling effect.
a lawyer in summing up summarizes in brief and logical form the evidence favorable to his case or client that has been given
I summed up all the systems in a phrase and all existence in an epigram —Wilde
values they can 【sum】 up in a few simple formulas —Croly
【Total】 tends to replace 【sum】 up in literal use.
determined the cost by totaling all expenditures
It may also mean to reach the 【sum】 or number of.
absences due to colds totaled 253 last week
【Tot】 , 【cast】 , 【figure】 , and 【foot】 are used especially of commercial matters (as accounts and bookkeeping devices).
【Tot】 and 【cast】 often imply facility in reckoning.
the waiter quickly totted the bill
if you 【tot】 up all the items that we owed against all the items that foreigners owed us —Hutton
【cast】 up an account
【Figure】 usually suggests the task or burden involved in reckoning.
【figure】 the costs of operating an automobile
【Foot】 connotes bookkeeping and totals at the bottom of each column of figures.
his debts will 【foot】 up to more than he can ever pay
