I am going to assume that you are talking about the following:
n
∑ f(i)
i=k
This means the sum of f(i) for i=k to n. In other words, that expression equals f(k)+f(k+1)+f(k+2)+...+f(n-1)+f(n).
The "pi notation" that I think you must be talking about is this:
n
Π f(i)
i=k
This means the product of all of the f(i)'s from i=k to n. In other words, this expression equals:
f(k)*f(k+1)*...*f(n).
Clearly very similar to the sigma notation.