in this, what seems simple, formula I need to find a different way to write it as the seperator ":" acts like all the column inbetween rather than just the 2 columns.

here is code

=COUNTIF((A:A):(C:C):(E:E),"1")
if i have a "1" in cells A1 and B1 the count returns "2" as opposed to the expected "1"

is there another way to write this or a different seperator?