Counting rows based on individual columns, and the sum of multiple columns - excel

Question

In excel, I need to count the number of rows based on criteria from values in individual columns, and from the sum of a set of multiple columns.
For example, with the attached image of data, I want to be able to count the number of rows which are "valid" (= when Column A = 1), are over 17 years old (= Column B = >17), and when the sum of columns C to G are equal to zero.
I am currently using countifs function, with individual criteria for columns C to G being zero. However, with my actual data there are many more columns than C to G so the formula becomes too large, they are taking a long time to write and very vulnerable to mistakes.
I have tried using sumproduct but this has the same problem with a long formula.
Formulas I have tried;
=COUNTIFS($A:$A, 1, $B:$B, ">17", $C:$C, 0, $D:$D,0, $E:$E,0, $F:$F,0, $G:$G,0)
=SUMPRODUCT(($A:$A=1)*($B:$B>17)*($C:$C=0)*($D:$D=0)*($E:$E=0)*($F:$F=0)*($G:$G=0))
I know I could create a new column with an If function for the sum of columns C-G first (=IF(SUM(C2:G2)=0, 1, 0)), and then include this as a criteria (new column = 1) within a countifs, but I would like to avoid creating new columns with this data.
I would like to do =COUNTIFS($A:$A, 1, $B:$B, ">17", C:G, SUM(C:G)=0), but sum within countifs is not possible.
Any ideas would be very much appreciated?
Image of data:
Sample data:
| Valid | Age | a | b | c | d | e |
|-------|-----|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | 48 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

Answer 1

You said that you're unhappy with your COUNTIFS formula, but here's an efficient way to still use COUNTIFS (shorter/easier than VBA) and maintain accuracy.
The formula with your example would be:
=COUNTIFS(A:A,1,B:B,">=18",C:C,,D:D,,E:E,,F:F,,G:G,)
This is likely similar what you were using, but note:
If the criteria is "=0" then no criteria need to be specified between the commas.
If the function applies to the entire column, there is no need to specify row numbers.
In fact, even if there's other values
above/below your data (like headings), they'll be ignored
(unless they
meet all the criteria in the formula, which would be unlikely.)
Want to avoid errors? Make Excel write the formula for you!
If you're concerned about making errors when adjusting the formula to your actual data, let Excel do the work for you with three steps. (First save your workbook.)
Select each column (or a cell from each column) that you want to include in your formula. (To select multiple areas, click the first one and then hold Ctrl while you click the rest.)
Copy the line below by highlighting it and hitting Ctrl+C:
?"=COUNTIFS(A:A,1,B:B,"">=18""";:For Each c In Selection.Columns:?","&Columns(c.Column).Address&",";:Next c:?")"
Hit Alt+F11 then Ctrl+GV then Enter (This immediately runs the VBA code from Step 2.)
The formula will appear on the next line. Just copy/paste into to where you want it!
Example output:
=COUNTIFS(A:A,1,B:B,">=18",$C:$C,,$F:$F,,$G:$G,,$P:$P,,$T:$T,,$AJ:$AJ,,$AC:$AC,)
Edit:
I'm not sure why you want/need to use INDIRECT but it's fine as long as you maintain the same syntax. A simplified example:
I have values in Columns A and B. I want to count rows where A=1 and B=1. My COUNTIFS formula (in D2) would be: =COUNTIFS(A:A,1,B:B,1)
The reason to use INDIRECT could be if, for example, I don't always want this to use Column B -- I want to be able to specify which column to use, in a different cell, maybe D5.
In D5 I enter the text: B:B. Then I change the formula is D2, replacing B:B with INDIRECT(D5).
Since E2 contains the text B:B, the formula is still indirectly referring to B:B, and the result of the formula does not change. If I specify a different column range in E2, the formula will look at the new range.
Important Note:
With SUMIFS, COUNTIFS and AVERAGEIFS, all ranges specified must have the same number of rows and columns as the criteria_range1 argument.
In this formula, that means they must be entire columns.
If you're just trying to refer to a column on a different worksheet, that's fine as long as you use correct syntax, such as: =COUNTIFS(A:A,1,Sheet1!D:D,1) to refer to column D on Sheet1.
If the name of the sheet is contained as text in a cell (D5), but you want the column (D:D) still hard-coded, then your INDIRECT section of the formula would be: INDIRECT(D5&"!D:D")
If the specified worksheet name has a SPACE in it, then you need to surround the name with ' apostophes, in the correct spot:
=COUNTIFS(A:A,1,INDIRECT("'" & D5&"'!D:D"),1)
...which is one of the many reasons spaces and other non-alphanumeric characters should be avoided when naming "anything".

Answer 2

This can easily be done with a custom function using VBA. A custom function is a self programmed function that can be used as a normal function in an Excel cell. the function is called countCorrectEntries and takes a Range as Parameter. So if your table(including header) is located in A1:G5 the function in your target cell would be =countCorrectEntries(A1:G5) What it essentialy does is, it initiallizes a variable countCorrect=0 which is going to count all rows that fullfill all conditions.
The loop:
For i = 2 To UBound(table, 1)
...
Next i
Goes through the rows and checks the conditions that look as follows:
If table(i, columnNumber) <> condition Then
conditionsMet = False
End If
It checks in row i (the iterator) if in a column e.g 1 for first does not meet a certain condition. E.g value is not equal to 1. If that is so, a boolean conditionsMet is set to False and it is not counted as correct.
For your sum problem, I propose the following condition:
'Check sum
tempSum = 0
For j = startColumn To EndColumn
tempSum = tempSum + table(i, j)
Next j
If tempSum > 0 Then
conditionsMet = False
End If
The loop within the loop goes over the columns between startColumn and endColumn e.g 3 and 7 for column C to G and sums the values in tempSum. Then it is checked if the sum is greater 0 and again the conditionsMet is set to False if so.
If after all the conditions are checked the conditionsMet is still True then CountCorrect is incremented by 1.
The following code should work for your problem. Just change the inner loop values for the correct columns and you are all set.
Cheers!
Function countCorrectEntries(Rng As Range)
Dim table As Variant
table = Rng
countCorrect = 0
For i = 2 To UBound(table, 1)
conditionsMet = True
If table(i, 1) <> 1 Then
conditionsMet = False
End If
If table(i, 2) < 18 Then
conditionsMet = False
End If
'Check sum
tempSum = 0
For j = 3 To 7
tempSum = tempSum + table(i, j)
Next j
If tempSum > 0 Then
conditionsMet = False
End If
If conditionsMet = True Then
countCorrect = countCorrect + 1
End If
Next i
countCorrectEntries = countCorrect
End Function