how many courts of appeal are there in america?

Answer 1

I am assuming that you mean Federal courts...There are twelve, divided into districts. There are eleven district courts, and a court for military appeals. Each "district" court covers a different region of the country.

The Supreme Court of the United States is a special court. There are occasions where a case is appealed to the Supreme Court, other cases start right at the Supreme Court. In those cases, the Supreme Court is said to have "original jurisdiction" instead of "appellate jurisdiction" (where the case goes to a higher court until it reaches the Supreme Court).

State courts is a totally different thing. Each state has it's own court system, some have more district courts than others.