If x's are the only data in the column... you don't put anything if they did
not attend... then you can just count the cells that contain data:
=COUNTA(E2:E21)

"shamor" wrote:

I have a column that has X if attended class then I need a sum of the number
of students that attended on that column. What is the easiest way to do this
without having to use the number 1 for attendance? so, issue is sum any X in
a column and total at the bottom.

Thank you.