2nd. argument (Optional ) in COUNTA() function

Hello fellow members!

I could not make out the purpose of the 2nd. argument; which is optional, in the

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

function. Following is the so called help, on this function, from Microsoft:

A
Sales
12/8/2008

19
22.24
TRUE
#DIV/0

Formula Description (Result)
=COUNTA(A2:A8) Counts the number of nonblank cells in the list above (6)
=COUNTA(A5:A8) Counts the number of nonblank cells in the last 4 rows of the list (4)
The above results are Ok. But, why are the following 2 examples return 7 each?

=COUNTA(A1:A7,2) Counts the number of nonblank cells in the list above and the value 2 (7)
=COUNTA(A1:A7,"Two") Counts the number of nonblank cells in the list above and the value "Two" (7)
I don't find any value '2' or 'two' in the data; then why are they returning 7 number of values?

Please help me in making my concept clear.

Regards,

Thanks Dave; for clearifying my one confusion. Still, I could not understand the purpose of this argument.

Would you help me understand, what value of this argument may produce a different result. I tried every possible value for this argument but the result remains the same (7).

Thanks in anticipation.