Which function allows for conditional counting of cells that meet specified criteria?

The function that allows for conditional counting of cells that meet specified criteria is COUNTIF. This function is specifically designed to count the number of cells in a range that fulfill a defined condition or criterion. For instance, if you want to count how many times a specific value appears in a list, you would use COUNTIF, specifying the range and the condition.

In practical applications, this function is widely used for data analysis tasks, such as tracking occurrences, verifying compliance with certain conditions, and summarizing data sets based on specific requirements. COUNTIF can handle various types of criteria, from exact matches to text-based conditions and numerical comparisons.

Other functions mentioned serve different purposes: SUMIF adds up values that meet specific criteria, AVERAGEIF calculates the average of a set of values under a condition, and LOOKUP retrieves values from a specific array based on a lookup value. Each of these functions plays a distinct role in data analysis, but for counting occurrences that meet a particular condition, COUNTIF is the appropriate choice.