=Sumif($A$1:$A$5, "a", $B$1:$B$5)

or use a cell reference for your criteria. assuming "a" (w/o quotes) is in C1
=Sumif($A$1:$A$5, C1, $B$1:$B$5)


"Simon Minder" wrote:

Hi all,

I have a counting issue. Let's assume the follwing data set:

¦ A ¦ B ¦
---------------------------
1¦ a ¦ 2 ¦
2¦ b ¦ 1 ¦
3¦ a ¦ 5 ¦
4¦ c ¦ 2 ¦
5¦ b ¦ 2 ¦


Result:
a 7
b 3
c 2

How can I get this done with a formula? I have tried with countif but it did
not work.

Kind regards,

Simon