formula to count instances of something

[Jeff]

Using Excel 2007.
I want to create a series of cells with a formula that will count the
number of cells elsewhere that contain a certain word.
"[ ]" means a cell.

Example:
[Category 1]
[sub category 2] [#of instances]
[sub category 3] [#of instances]

Elsewhere on that XL spread sheet, I would have rows that have
[sub category 2] [data...] [data...]
[sub category 2] [data..] [data..]
[sub category 2] [data....] [data....]

[sub category 3] [data] [data]
[sub category 3] [data] [data]
[sub category 3] [data] [data]
[sub category 3] [data] [data]
etc.

What I want to do is have the first ("summary group") to show
[Category 1]
[sub category 2] [3]
[sub category 3] [4]
etc.

How would I do that?

Thanks.

 

[Don Guillett]

Have you tried the COUNTIF function?

 

[Jeff]

Have you tried the COUNTIF function?

No, because I'm a complete newbie at Excel formulas. Will that do it? I
will try to learn about it.

Thanks.

 

[Don Guillett]

Look in the help index for COUNTIF