Created Unassigned: COUNTIF allowed syntaxes [9451]

At the moment, the only way to successfully use the COUNTIF function seems to be the one using a syntax like

COUNTIF(A1:A8,"=3")

Where A1:A8 contains numbers. If the contents are strings, or if the comparison criterium is a value:

COUNTIF(A1:A8,"=a")
COUNTIF(A1:A8,"3")
COUNTIF(A1:A8,"a")

An exception is thrown by the calculation engine.

In attachment, an example excel file.