---
title: Switching between the sum/min/max/avg aggregators doesn't change the value
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
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  Docs > Metrics > Metrics Guides > Switching between the sum/min/max/avg
  aggregators doesn't change the value
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# Switching between the sum/min/max/avg aggregators doesn't change the value

When using the `sum`/`min`/`max`/`avg` aggregators, you are looking across multiple series, not at points within a single series. So if the query is scoped to its most granular level, it's possible that switching between those aggregators doesn't change the values you're seeing.

For example, if you break down web requests by `host` and `path`, where you get a series for each combination. The data at a particular time may look like:

| Metric Name  | Tags                      | Value |
| ------------ | ------------------------- | ----- |
| web.requests | `host: a`, `path: /test1` | 5     |
| web.requests | `host: a`, `path: /test2` | 3     |
| web.requests | `host: b`, `path: /test1` | 2     |
| web.requests | `host: b`, `path: /test2` | 8     |

You get different results per aggregation method when grouping by `host`, since there are two series per `host` that must be combined.

| Query                           | host: a | host: b |
| ------------------------------- | ------- | ------- |
| `sum:web.requests(*) by {host}` | 8       | 10      |
| `min:web.requests(*) by {host}` | 3       | 2       |
| `max:web.requests(*) by {host}` | 5       | 8       |
| `avg:web.requests(*) by {host}` | 4       | 5       |

If you group by `host` **and** `path` in this example, this results in four series where the `sum`/`min`/`max`/`avg` are the same per series as that is the most granular level for this data.

## Further reading{% #further-reading %}

- [Space Aggregation](https://docs.datadoghq.com/metrics/introduction.md#combining-time-series)