How can I count the number of cells having a value greater than the content
of a given cell --- for example --

cells a1 - a7 contain the values 1 - 7, and I want to count the number of
cells in the range a2:a7 which are greater than the value in cell a1

If I try countif(a2:a7,"a1") I get 0
If I try countif(a2:a7)"1") I get 6

If countif isn't the way to do this - is there another way?

The function can count the number of cells equal to the value in the
referenced cell - but not find those greater than (or less than) the content
of the referenced cell.

Thanks -----