Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 January 1

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January 1[edit]

MS Excel - counting columns?[edit]

I'm trying to track my Coryat score while watching Jeopardy!. I have a spread sheet with a column for each column of the game board. And a row for each dollar figure. When I get a clue correct, I put a Y in the cell for the appropriate space. At the end of the game, I count up the Ys for each dollar figure and then multiply that by the dollar figure. For example, if I get 4 of the $200 clues correct, I put a 4 in one column and the spreadsheet multiplies that by $200 and gives me a total for that round of $800. Then I count up the $400 clues I got correct, and so on.

Is there a way to further automate the calculations and have the spreadsheet count how many Ys there are in a particular row? It's not hard to count to 6 but it would just be a little simpler and I wouldn't possibly miss awarding myself a few hundred dollars by missing one of my Ys.

Thanks, †dismas†|(talk) 00:19, 1 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If your six cells are in B2 through G2 for one row, then you can use the formula =COUNTIF(B2:G2,"Y") which will return a number from 0 to 6 depending on how many "Y"s there are. Outriggr (talk) 02:19, 1 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Let's say that the "answer" columns are in B:G and in A you've got the dollar figures for the board that round. So, in a round 1 board, A2 would say 100, A3 would have 200 and so on. In cells B2 through G6 you've got a bunch of potential Ys. At the bottom of each column you could do a SUMIF. For example, in cell B7 you'd put =SUMIF(B2:B6,"Y",$A2:$A6) then drag the formula across the six board columns. Then put in a sum formula wherever you like to total up the values in B7:G7. Matt Deres (talk) 03:57, 1 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Outriggr and Matt Deres, thanks! That's working! †dismas†|(talk) 21:21, 2 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]