INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TUTORIAL

OBJECTIVES TO COVER : count counta countif

COUNT & COUNTA

You have already used a count function such as =count(B3:B25).

Note however that this function only works on cell ranges which contain numerical values.

{Special note: cells can contain values of the types:- text (sometimes called labels), numbers or formulae}.

To make a count on a range which contain text values, e.g. names or addresses, the count function will
return a total of 0 (zero).

To solve this problem, a =COUNTA function is used. This tells the program that the values to be counted
are of the text type.

The format for a counta function is exactly the same as for a count: =counta(B3:B25).

Practice Session

1. Open the workbook called Francis Jack Student File.xlsx.

2. Delete the English marks for any four students.
3. Perform a count to show how many students have English marks. Remember to add a suitable
label to the left or above the cell where you will type your formula.
4. Now you want to count the number of students in the class. You cannot use the subject English
since all of them do not have marks recorded. So, you must count the actual students. To do this,
use a COUNTA on the students surname or Christian name.
Now you know how many students are in the class and how many have taken the subject English.

COUNTIF

While count & counta allows you to count all entities listed, you can also count only specified items in a
list. To do this, a =countif function is used. Like the count function, the countif function requires a specific
range, but it also requires a criterion (singular to criteria). In other words, you tell the program what items
you need to count.

The format looks like this: =countif(range,”criterion”)

 The range is the set of cells which contains the values you are interested in (e.g. B3:B58).
 The criterion is a value such as green, male, >500, etc.

Let’s try it on the worksheet

1. You want to count the boys and the girls in the class. So you type:
=countif(D2:D26,”Male”)
a. Things to note – no spaces in the formula
 b. The quotes around the criterion
c. The opening and closing parentheses
d. The above will count male students only

2. Check your result by physically counting the male students.

3. You can now type the formula to count the girls in the class.
4. Write the formula to count all the students who receive more than 50 marks in Math.
{Note – you must use your math operators
> more than < less than <> not equal to >= more than or equal to
<= less than or equal to
Note that > also means after and < also means before }
5. Write the formula to count all the students who receive less than 65 marks in IT.
6. Write a formula which will display the number of students who received at least 69 in Math. This
formula requires you to use more than or equal to since the count must include the number 69.

WILDCARDS

At this stage we will introduce a feature which is used in searches and can be used to find files using
Windows Explorer (on the harddrive or your flash drive).

A wildcard (*) represents all missing letters from a search criterion. For example, if you forgot the
name of your file which should have been MyEmployees.docx, you can search for My* or M*.docx.
the search will produce all files which start with My in the first case, and all MS Word files which start
with M is the second case.

The instances of wildcards which you need to know are as follows:

D* - all entities or files starting with D

*W – all entities or files finishing with W

*ga* - all entities or files which contain the letters ga.

You can now apply these to your spreadsheet. Simple format looks like =countif(M5:M38,”F*)

This will count only those values which begin with F.

Practice

1. Write a formula to count those students whose surname begins with B.

2. Write a formula to count those students whose first name ends with a.
3. Write a formula to count those students whose ID.s begins with 2009.
4. Write a formula to count those students whose first name begins with C.
5. Write a formula to count those students whose surname contains the letter a.