Reflection on COUNTIFS Function in Excel
What does the criteria2 argument "???ing" signify in the COUNTIFS function?
a. The function will produce an error output since this is not a valid way to define any of the criteria arguments in a statistical IFS function.
b. The function will search for any three contiguous cells in the range H6.H18 on the Detail worksheet that contains the letters "ing".
c. The function will search for any cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain an entry with six characters where the last three characters are the letters "ing".
d. The function will search for any cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain any entry with the letters "ing".
e. The function will search for any cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain the entry "???ing".
Answer:
The correct answer is c. The function will search for any cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain an entry with six characters where the last three characters are the letters "ing".
In the given COUNTIFS function, the criteria2 argument is defined as "???ing". This means that the function will search for cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain an entry with six characters, where the last three characters are the letters "ing". The question marks ("?") are wildcard characters that represent any single character, so the first three characters can be any combination. The "ing" at the end specifies that the last three characters must be "ing".
For example, if a cell in the range H6:H18 contains the entry "testing", it will be included in the count because it has six characters and ends with "ing". However, if a cell contains "sing", it will not be included because it doesn't have six characters.
This criteria allows the function to count specific entries in the range H6:H18 that meet the specified pattern of having six characters with the letters "ing" at the end.
To summarize, the COUNTIFS function with the "???ing" criteria2 argument will search for cells in the range H6:H18 on the Detail worksheet that contain an entry with six characters where the last three characters are "ing".