[Resolved] query add up total from field

Im just a bit curious on how a query could add up all the totals in a field of a table.

the totals are in one field called 'totals'

not every line would have a number, the numbers are whole numbers no decimal places

example:

12
55
15
49

a combination of PHP/Query possible??

= 131

select SUM(totals) as total_value from your_table;

this would add the contents of all the fields and put the total in a new field called total_value.

I got the example to work and it does add all the numbers,

except I can only get the query to work inside
PHPMyADMIN

Placing the query inside PHP webpage where I run similiar queries on the same table outputs

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '='

This really is starting to get crazy, I have followed exact same query structure as the queries that do work...