Which of the following is correct regarding the SUMIF function?

The SUMIF function is specifically designed to sum values based on a given condition or criteria. For the function to work properly, it does indeed require three main components:

1. A specified range, which is the area containing the cells you want to evaluate against the criteria.

2. Criteria, which is the condition that must be met for the corresponding values in the specified range to be included in the sum.

3. An optional additional range, which is used if the values to be summed are located in a different range than the one being evaluated.

This combination of parameters allows SUMIF to efficiently sum cells that meet specific conditions, making it a powerful tool for data analysis. The other choices misstate the function's purpose or capability, such as limiting it to numeric values only, confusing it with an averaging function, or misrepresenting its capability to count occurrences rather than sum them. This highlights the critical components that make the SUMIF function effective and versatile for summing data based on defined criteria.