=SUM(--(G$1:G$100=TRANSPOSE(J1:J4)))
I found it interesting that using SUMPRODUCT instead
of SUM did not work correctly unless you array-entered it.

TRANSPOSE requires array entry.

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Rick Rothstein" wrote in message
...
I'm assuming that there are more entry possibilities than the four you
listed and that she wants to count only those four items from among all
the possible entries (otherwise a simple COUNTA function call would work).
Using the concept Shane posted, but modifying it for the search items to
be listed in a column (J1:J4 in my formula) rather than a row (W1:Z1 in
Shane's formula), this array-entered formula should work...

=SUM(--(G$1:G$100=TRANSPOSE(J1:J4)))

I found it interesting that using SUMPRODUCT instead of SUM did not work
correctly unless you array-entered it.

--
Rick (MVP - Excel)


"Gary''s Student" wrote in
message ...
A colleague came to me yesterday and complained about the length of
formulas.
She needs to count occurrences of values in a table that meet any of
several
criteria. The table is pure text with no blanks. Her formula was
something
like:

=COUNTIF(G7:G3147,"open")+COUNTIF(G7:G3147,"pendin g
review")+COUNTIF(G7:G3147,"review complete")+COUNTIF(G7:G3147,"assigned")

I pointed out that she did not need repeated COUNTIF()'s and to use:

=SUM(COUNTIF(G7:G3147,{"open","pending review","review
complete","assigned"}))

She was satisfied, but returned this morning and wanted to know if the
criteria could be completely removed from the formula and stored in a
table.

I put the match values in Z1 thru Z4 and tried:

=SUM(COUNTIF(G7:G3147,Z1:Z4)) but this returns zero.

Any suggestions for putting the criteria in a little table and referring
to
that table??

--
Gary''s Student - gsnu200858