"anand" wrote in message
...
I can create a sumproduct formula that refers to external cells for a
filtering function
e.g. =sumproduct(A1:A200=A205:D205)*(B1:B200=1).

That should be

=SUMPRODUCT((A1:A200=A205:D205)*(B1:B200=1))

this should return the sum of those # of rows where there is a 1 in row B
and any of 4 different values (which I can switch from text or numbers) in
the first 4 cells of row 205.

Question is how can I indicate either blanks or nonblanks in one of the 4
reference cells in row 205.

What exactly do you mean? It works with blanks in A1:A200, or in A205:D205

In addition, what does the operator "-" do when replacing the asterisk (*)
in the sumproduct formula. I know that a plus sign means "or" rather than
"and" for the asterisk. does the "-" symbol mean "but not"?

No, the - goes with another, a double unary, which is used to coerce the
True/False results of a test are coerced to 1/0 values, for the arithmetic
operations.

So if I want a
formula that indicates, for example everyhing with a "apple" in column one
but not a "orange" in column 2?

No, that is a simple <

=SUMPRODUCT(--(A1:A200="apple),--(B1:B200<"orange"))

equivalent to


=SUMPRODUCT((A1:A200="apple)*(B1:B200<"orange"))