Biff,

......otherwise you'll get the circular reference once again...... <<

As soon as I read the above, I said to myself: "Totally agree."

It is interesting that Bob made it sound like Toppers' formula solved his circular reference problem.

I thought I missed something and I even tried ...... Sorry, I doubted you and me but Bob sounded so convincing. Anyway, I always experiment before I post.

The main reason for my post is that I am happy to know that for 2007 we can use a column/row for SUMPRODUCT.

Epinn

"Biff" wrote in message ...
Unfortunately, I need to put the formula in
column CX (for a variety of reasons).
=COUNTIF(CX:CX,"B*")
=COUNTIF(CX:CX,"O*")

Then you'll have to use a more reasonable range and put the formula outside
of that range otherwise you'll get the circular reference once again.

Biff

"Bob" wrote in message
...
Biff,
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I need to put the formula in
column CX (for a variety of reasons).
It appears that the solution offered by Toppers (see the post after yours)
is the one I need to use.
Thanks again for your help.
Bob

"Biff" wrote:

Hi!

To solve the circular reference error, don't put the formula in column
CX.

Try this:

=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(CX1:CX100)="B"))
=SUMPRODUCT(--(LEFT(CX1:CX100)="O"))

You can't use entire columns as range arguments with Sumproduct (unless
you're using Excel 2007 beta).

Biff

"Bob" wrote in message
...
Column CX contains entries that either begin with a "B" or "O". I need
to
count the number of cells whose contents begin with "B", and count the
number
of cells whose contents begin with "O".
I wrote the following formula, and even saved it as an array formula,
but
I
keep getting a circular reference error:

=COUNTIF(CX:CX,LEFT(CX:CX,1)="B")

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Bob