Course / Conditional Math

COUNTIF

Count only the cells that match a condition: text, numbers, wildcards and more. Intermediate · 5 min · COUNTIF, Criteria, Wildcards

COUNTIF counts the cells in a range that meet one condition:

=COUNTIF(range, criteria)

The criteria can be:

• text, such as "Email" (capital letters don't matter)
• a comparison, such as ">=30"
• a pattern: * matches any run of characters and ? matches exactly one
• "<>Closed", meaning anything except Closed

> Comparisons go inside the quotes: ">=30", not >=30.

Steps

1. How many support tickets came in by email? In H2, count the Email entries in the channel column B2:B11.

2. Customers who wait 30 minutes or more tend to complain. In H3, count the tickets in D2:D11 with a wait of 30 or more.

3. Every billing topic starts with "Billing". In H4, count them in C2:C11 with a wildcard: "Billing*" matches Billing followed by anything.

4. In H5, count the tickets in E2:E11 that are not Closed, whether they are Open or Pending.

5. The team's wait limit lives in H8. In H6, count the waits longer than that limit. Join the operator to the cell with &: ">"&H8.

Remember

• =COUNTIF(range, criteria) counts the matching cells.
• Put comparisons inside the quotes: ">=30", "<>Closed".
• * and ? are wildcards for partial text matches.
• ">"&H8 builds the criteria from a cell.

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