Logical operators: equal to, not equal to

Hello Everyone

i dont know what "<>"& "="& means in the following formula as a criteria
i know = and <> , but i dont know what does & means in this place, also i dont know whats the quotatios do ""

=IF(ISBLANK(U3447),"",COUNTIFS(F:F,F3447,Z:Z,Z3447,D:D,"<>"&D3447))+IF(ISBLANK(U3447),"",COUNTIFS(F:F,F3447,Z:Z,Z3447,D:D,"="&D3447))

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Double quotes are text delimiters
"2" is text while 2 is a number
the & is used to concatenate text strings "<>"&5 is the same as <>5

Yes but the syntax defined by XL needs the "<>" part
(BTW using entire column references is not a good idea)

COUNTIFS(F:F,F3447,Z:Z,Z3447,D:D,"<>"&D3447))

this is saying not equal to D3447.

COUNTIFS(F:F,F3447,Z:Z,Z3447,D:D,"="&D3447))

this is saying equal to D3447 and can be written this way... COUNTIFS(F:F,F3447,Z:Z,Z3447,D:D,D3447))
without the "="& part.