The COUNT function

The COUNT function is a statistical function which will return the total number of cells which have numerical values in them from the selected range.

This is the format of the COUNT function:

=COUNT(Range 1, Range 2, Range 3, etc…)

Here is an example of the COUNT function:

=COUNT(1, 4, TRUE, 9, “Hello!”, 5, 5, 1) = 6

It is very useful when needing to determine something like the divisor for an average, or the number of graded assignments for a student. It is also helpful in determining if any cells which look to be numbers are not formatted properly.

An example of a  functional implementation of this would be if you are building a template which needs to adapt to fit the number of valid responses entered by a user. Using the count function on the defined range will allow you to return the proper results without needing an extensive formula. Pairing this with something like the SWITCH function makes it even more versatile.

A1 = 4, A2 = “No answer”, A3 = 5, A4 = 2, A5 = 1, A6 = (blank), A7 = 3

=COUNT(A1:A7) = 5