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Data Analysis Spreadsheet Basics Spreadsheet Functions & Shortcuts The COUNT Function

Posted by Kim B
Kim B
4,991 Points

Count Function - Google Sheet's... Help?

Hello, I'm looking at Google Sheet's Doc Editors help page (and sample spreadsheet) for the COUNT function, but I don't understand their second example formula: =COUNT(A2:A6, " ", -0.5)

What does the blank and -0.5 indicate? I get that the basic COUNT function counts only cells with numeric values, and COUNTA counts all values, text or numeric... but what are these additional values being added to the formula actually counting?

1 Answer

Megan Amendola
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Megan Amendola
Treehouse Teacher
Megan Amendola
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Megan Amendola
Treehouse Teacher

With COUNT you can pass in multiple values for the formula to count. That example is also checking for cells with an empty string and cells with -.05 as values. Here are some more examples in case it helps.