exact matches of 2 columns by 300+ rows then total

I am a beginner using Excel 2004 for MAC version 11.1.1
I have searched through older posts but haven't been able to find an answer to my question...
In one worksheet I have 2 columns of numbers, I need to find "exact matches" by row, ie is number in cell A1 the same as number in cell B1... but how can this be done for multiple rows (300+) in one formula/function? Then I need to have a total of the number of cells that are an exact match. To spice it up, some cells in Column A may have all or partial text... typically the words pass, personal,and dist or MM100, MM101 etc... in which case, they will never match corresponding cell in Column B. Is there an array that can make this work?
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions.