While countif() can count the number of times a specific thing appears in a set of cells, countifs() counts the number of times a corresponding set of things appears in a corresponding set of locations. For example, countif() could count… Read moreSimple statistics: counting compound things

If you want to count something specific – say, the number of “Yes” entries – then the function you want is countif(). Countif() is, without a doubt, my favorite counting function. I honestly didn’t even know the others existed, or… Read moreSimple statistics: counting specific things

The countblank() function does what you might expect — it counts the number of blank cells in a group that you specify. The group can consist of more than one range, such as countblank(a1:b3,a5:b7).

The counta() functions will tell you how many non-blank entries are in a group of cells. I actually had an occasion to use counta() earlier this week. I had a sort of to-do list in one column, and notes about… Read moreSimple statistics: counting entries