Countifs array results not as expected, can anyone see why?

Originally Posted by icestationzbra

the condition needs to be outside of COUNTIF(S). apparently, using the "A" condition within the COUNTIF(S) while it is in an array-type formula, elicits a "union" effect, which is visible only if the values in column B are repeating, else, it is business as usual.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this and providing a good theory on the cause, I was getting the feeling that I was missing something obvious, but it would appear to be a bit of a glitch with the function

After looking at your soulutions I tried something else that also works,

{=SUM(IFERROR(1/COUNTIFS(A$1:A$4,A$1:A$4,A$1:A$4,"A",B$1:B$4,B$1:B$4),))}

The thought behind these methods was looking for alternatives to frequency (I can never seem to get the arrays right), but calculation is a bit clunky, think I just need to spend a bit more time trying to get to grips with the tried and tested methods.