What does the COUNT function calculate?

The COUNT function in Excel is specifically designed to calculate the number of cells that contain numeric values within a specified range. This function only tallies cells that have numbers, meaning it will ignore any cells that are empty or contain text, logical values, or errors. As a result, when you use the COUNT function, you get an accurate count of all the numeric entries, which can be particularly useful for data analysis, such as when needing to tally how many values are present in a dataset that is numeric.

In contrast, other options reflect different functions or definitions:

• Counting cells that contain text would be the function of COUNTA, which totals non-blank cells regardless of whether they are numeric or textual.

• The total number of non-blank cells outside of counting only numeric values is also covered by the COUNTA function.

• Summing numeric values in a range is the responsibility of the SUM function, which adds all the numbers within the specified range instead of simply counting them.

Thus, the purpose and functionality of the COUNT function distinctly align with indicating how many cells have numeric entries, reinforcing the choice.