if statement on entries count

Let me update the code... I need to get a count of entries from a given period and set that count as a variable. I think this is probably easy, but I am missing something...

<MTEntries days="10">

	<mtSetVar name="count" value="<mtEntriesCount">

</MTEntries>

when I do this all I get is the display of the count. It doesn't set the variable.

You can't embed a tag like that. However, you can use the setvar tag modifier like this:

<mt:Entries days="10">
    <mt:If name="__last__">
        <mt:EntriesCount setvar="posts_in_last_ten_days"/>
    </mt:If>
</mt:Entries>

perfect - thanks!