title: What is the meaning of "&" when dealing with condition formula with cell reference rather than fixed numbers
body: <p>I want to count the number that the value in a specified group is bigger than some value (which is in another cell).</p>
  
  <p>For example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>     A     B     C
    -------------------
  1 |  5  |  4  |  3  |
  2 |  5  |  2  |  1  |
  3 |  6  |  4  |  3  |
  4 |  7  |  5  |  5  |
  5 |  3  |  6  |  6  |
  6 |  1  |  9  |  8  |
    -------------------
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I want to count:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>in the range of <code>A2:A6</code>, how many is greater than <code>A1</code>;</li>
  <li>in the range of <code>B2:B6</code>, how many is greater than <code>B1</code>;</li>
  <li>in the range of <code>C2:C6</code>, how many is greater than <code>C1</code>;</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I input the following formula (found it via Google):</p>
  
  <p><code>COUNTIF(A2:A6, "&gt;"&amp;A1)</code></p>
  
  <p>Actually I do not understand what is this <code>&amp;</code> symbol for in EXCEL. Can anyone explain this?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks,</p>