Excel Lesson 8

Use the Start menu to start Excel.

Open the file DIRECTORY2.xls.

We are going to learn how to get Excel to COUNT SOME OF THE STUDENTS for us.

We want to know how many 6^th graders are in the spreadsheet. We want Excel to do the counting for us.

We are going to use the function COUNTIF. We want Excel to COUNT, IF this is a sixth grader.

If you see ‘=NAME’ in a cell while you are working, Excel is telling you that something you’ve typed in is incorrect or incomplete. Ask for help if you’re not sure how to fix it.

Click in cell A33, and type =COUNTIF(

Now add the cell range: =COUNTIF(M2..M31

Can you guess why we are using column M instead of column A?

We are using column M because that is where Excel has to look to see what the student’s grade is.

Now we have to tell Excel what to look for: a 6. Finish typing the function like this: =COUNTIF(M2..32,”6”) and hit Enter.

How many sixth graders did Excel count?

In the cell next to this number (B33), type ‘Sixth graders’ so someone looking at your spreadsheet will know what the number in A33 is.

Click in cell A34 and write a function to count the 7^th graders.

In B34, write ‘Seventh graders’.

Click in cell A35 and write a function to count eight graders.

In B35, write ‘Eight graders’.

Save the spreadsheet, and exit from Excel.