When you work with decimal numbers, rounding might be part of your equation. Microsoft Excel offers a few functions to help you quickly and easily round to perfection.
You can use the simple ROUND function, always round up or down with ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN, or round to a specific multiple with MROUND. Let’s take a look at how to use each of these ROUND functions in Excel.
The ROUND Function
The most basic of the functions is ROUND. With it, you can use a number or cell reference and round up or down.
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The syntax is ROUND(number, digits) where both arguments are required. Keep these considerations in mind for the digits argument.
- If it is greater than zero, the number rounds to the specified number of decimal places.
- If it is zero, the number rounds to the nearest integer.
- If it is less than zero, the number rounds to the left of the decimal point.
To round 3.7528 up two decimal places, you would use the following formula and receive the result 3.75:
=ROUND(3.7528,2)
To round that same number to the nearest integer, you would use this next formula and receive the result 4:
=ROUND(3.7528,0)
You can also use a cell reference instead of entering the number in your formula. Here, we’ll round the value in cell A1 two places to the left of the decimal point.
=ROUND(A1,-2)
The ROUNDUP Function
Maybe you have a sheet with numbers that you want to always round up. This is when the ROUNDUP function is useful.
The syntax is ROUNDUP(number, digits) where both arguments are required, just like the ROUND function. This function also has the same three considerations for the digits argument.
To round 5.3692 up two decimal places, you would use the following formula to receive the result 5.37.
=ROUNDUP(5.3692,2)
To round that same number to the nearest integer, you would use the next formula and receive the result 6.
=ROUNDUP(5.3692,0)
To use the cell reference A1 for the value and round up three places to the left of the decimal point, you’d use this formula.
=ROUNDUP(A1,-3)
The ROUNDDOWN Function
ROUNDDOWN works just like its counterpart above except that it always rounds down.
The syntax is ROUNDDOWN(number, digits) where both arguments are required like the above two functions. And this function has the same three considerations for the digits argument.
To round 7.421 down two decimal places and receive the result 7.42, use this formula:
=ROUNDDOWN(7.421,2)
To round that same number to the nearest integer, use the following formula to receive the result 7.
=ROUNDDOWN(7.421,0)
And to round that value in cell A1 down three places to the left of the decimal point, you’d use this formula:
=ROUNDDOWN(A1,-3)
The MROUND Function
A bit different than the above functions, MROUND rounds to a certain multiple.
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The syntax is MROUND(number, multiple) where both arguments are required and must have the same sign. So, if you use a negative for the number, you must use a negative for the multiple otherwise you’ll receive an error.
To round 13 to the nearest multiple of 3 and receive the result 12, you’d use this formula:
=MROUND(13,3)
To round -20 to the nearest multiple of -6 and receive the result -18, you’d use this formula:
=MROUND(-20,-6)
To round the value in cell A1 to the nearest multiple of 3, you would use this formula:
=MROUND(A1,3)
Rounding is one of those tasks that you don’t have to do manually in Excel. These functions take the work out of rounding the numbers in your spreadsheet.
