COUNT explained
Say you're watching the Super Bowl with your friends, and some of you decided to bet on the game.
Before the game, everyone's name was written on a whiteboard with how much of their money was on the line. If you decided you didn't want to gamble, your excuse was written next to your name instead of a dollar amount.
Out of this list, if we wanted to easily figure out how many people actually bet on the game, we could use a COUNT function!
COUNT returns the count of numbers in a given list of values/cells. It does not include blank spaces or text in the result.
Coding a COUNT
Let's transfer the whiteboard above onto an Excel spreadsheet:
Now, let's reference the COUNT template and apply it to our Excel sheet.
=COUNT(number1, [number2]...)
For our number1 and number2 we'll just click and drag our mouse over all the betting values on the spreadsheet in column B.
=COUNT(B2:B19)
Perfect! This shows us that out of all our friends, 13 of them decided to place money on the Super Bowl game.
COUNT vs. COUNTA
Sometimes, you may be asked to determine how many values exist in a list, including text. This is where COUNTA comes into play.
While COUNT only determines how many numbers are in a given range, COUNTA determines how many values (including text) are in a given range.
So, in our whiteboard case, if we wanted to figure out how many total friends were at the Super Bowl party, we could accomplish that with a COUNTA function like so!
=COUNTA(B2:B19)
We now know there are 18 friends at the Super Bowl party!
Practice problem
Given the following race results, determine how many of the participants actually finished the race. Any participants without an end time did not cross the finish line.
=COUNT(C2:C9)
5 participants finished the race!
Next, let's figure out how to round numbers with the ROUND function!
Excel Cram Kit (Exam 1)
Want to unlock 
content? Get your Excel Cram Kit (Exam 1) now!
 | Apply | PRACTICE EXCEL EXAM 1 (PREVIEW ONLY) |
 | Tools | Excel Nerd Notes (Exam 1) (PREVIEW ONLY) |
 | Lesson | YEAR, MONTH, DAY |
| Lesson | SUM & AutoSUM |
| Lesson | Relative vs. Absolute Cell References |
| Lesson | RANK |
| Lesson | COUNT |
| Lesson | ROUND |
| Lesson | WEEKDAY vs. WORKDAY (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | VLOOKUP (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | PMT (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | IF (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | Percent change (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | Excel charts (PREVIEW ONLY) |
| Lesson | Importing text files (PREVIEW ONLY) |
Excel Reviews (Exam 1)
"I bought this Cram Kit the night before my exam, and it helped me tremendously. It provides step-by-step explanations for all the units covered in class."
Matt Lamanna
Oct. 14, 2021