newbie question- how do I add up characters?

[louscannon]

Hi, I have a spreadsheet, where I put a Y if the person turns up, and
O if they don't. so, for example, if Joe Bloggs doesn't turn up on the
1/05/08, on his row under the date, I put O. Now, over the months each
person in my group, has varous Y's and O's if he doesn't show up.
How can all the Y's or all the O's be added up, so giving me an idea
as to how many times Joe's turned up over the months/years?
Lou

 

[Pete_UK]

Try this:

=COUNTIF(A1:Z1,"Y")

to count the Y's, and:

=COUNTIF(A1:Z1,"O")

to count the O's.

Adjust the range references to suit your data.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[Bruce Sinclair]

Hi, I have a spreadsheet, where I put a Y if the person turns up, and
O if they don't. so, for example, if Joe Bloggs doesn't turn up on the
1/05/08, on his row under the date, I put O. Now, over the months each
person in my group, has varous Y's and O's if he doesn't show up.
How can all the Y's or all the O's be added up, so giving me an idea
as to how many times Joe's turned up over the months/years?
Lou

If you use 1 (for turned up say) and 0 in future, the problem goes away.