The formula dim(A+B)=dim(A)+dim(B)-dim(A∩B) works when ‘dim’ stands for the dimension of subspaces A,B of any vector space. In general, however, it does no longer hold if 'dim' means the uniform (or Goldie) dimension of submodules A,B of a module M over a ring R, and in fact the left hand side may be infinite while the right hand side is finite. In this paper we shall give a characterization of those modules M in which the formula holds for any two submodules A,B, as well as some conditions in the ring R which guarantee that dim(A+B) is finite whenever A and B are finite dimensional R-modules.