Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Calculations 285

Table 10-1: Excel Rounding Functions

Function Description
CEILING Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest specified multiple
DOLLARDE Converts a dollar price expressed as a fraction into a decimal number
DOLLARFR Converts a dollar price expressed as a decimal into a fractional number
EVEN Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest even integer
FLOOR Rounds a number down (toward zero) to the nearest specified multiple
INT Rounds a number down (towards zero) to make it an integer
ISO.CEILING* Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest integer or to the nearest multiple
of significance; similar to CEILING, but works correctly with negative arguments
MROUND Rounds a number to a specified multiple
ODD Rounds a number up (away from zero) to the nearest odd integer
ROUND Rounds a number to a specified number of digits
ROUNDDOWN Rounds a number down (toward zero) to a specified number of digits
ROUNDUP Rounds a number up (away from zero) to a specified number of digits
TRUNC Truncates a number to a specified number of significant digits
*Indicates a function introduced in Excel 2010

Chapter 6 contains examples of rounding time values.

The following sections provide examples of formulas that use various types of rounding.

Basic rounding formulas

The ROUND function is useful for basic rounding to a specified number of digits. You specify the
number of digits in the second argument for the ROUND function. For example, the formula that
follows returns 123.40 (the value is rounded to one decimal place):

=ROUND(123.37,1)

If the second argument for the ROUND function is zero, the value is rounded to the nearest inte-
ger. The formula that follows, for example, returns 123.00:

=ROUND(123.37,0)

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 286 Part II: Using Functions in Your Formulas

The second argument for the ROUND function can also be negative. In such a case, the number is
rounded to the left of the decimal point. The following formula, for example, returns 120.00:

=ROUND(123.37,–1)

The ROUND function rounds either up or down. But how does it handle a number such as 12.5,
rounded to no decimal places? You’ll find that the ROUND function rounds such numbers away
from zero. The formula that follows, for instance, returns 13.0:

=ROUND(12.5,0)

The next formula returns –13.00 (the rounding occurs away from zero):

=ROUND(–12.5,0)

To force rounding to occur in a particular direction, use the ROUNDUP or ROUNDDOWN func-
tions. The following formula, for example, returns 12.0. The value rounds down.

=ROUNDDOWN(12.5,0)

The formula that follows returns 13.0. The value rounds up to the nearest whole value.

=ROUNDUP(12.43,0)

Rounding to the nearest multiple

The MROUND function is useful for rounding values to the nearest multiple. For example, you can
use this function to round a number to the nearest 5. The following formula returns 135:

=MROUND(133,5)

Rounding currency values

Often, you need to round currency values. For example, you may need to round a dollar amount
to the nearest penny. A calculated price may be something like $45.78923. In such a case, you’ll
want to round the calculated price to the nearest penny. This may sound simple, but there are
actually three ways to round such a value:

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 Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Calculations 287

h Round it up to the nearest penny.

h Round it down to the nearest penny.
h Round it to the nearest penny (the rounding may be up or down).

The following formula assumes a dollar and cents value is in cell A1. The formula rounds the value
to the nearest penny. For example, if cell A1 contains $12.421, the formula returns $12.42.

=ROUND(A1,2)

If you need to round the value up to the nearest penny, use the CEILING function. The following
formula rounds the value in cell A1 up to the nearest penny. For example, if cell A1 contains
$12.421, the formula returns $12.43.

=CEILING(A1,0.01)

To round a dollar value down, use the FLOOR function. The following formula, for example,
rounds the dollar value in cell A1 down to the nearest penny. If cell A1 contains $12.421, the for-
mula returns $12.42.

=FLOOR(A1,0.01)

To round a dollar value up to the nearest nickel, use this formula:

=CEILING(A1,0.05)

You’ve probably noticed that many retail prices end in $0.99. If you have an even dollar price and
you want it to end in $0.99, just subtract .01 from the price. Some higher-ticket items are always
priced to end with $9.99. To round a price to the nearest $9.99, first round it to the nearest
$10.00 and then subtract a penny. If cell A1 contains a price, use a formula like this to convert it
to a price that ends in $9.99:

=ROUND(A1/10,0)*10–0.01

For example, if cell A1 contains $345.78, the formula returns $349.99.

A simpler approach uses the MROUND function:

=MROUND(A1,10)–0.01

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 288 Part II: Using Functions in Your Formulas

Working with fractional dollars

The DOLLARFR and DOLLARDE functions are useful when working with fractional dollar values,
as in stock market quotes.
Consider the value $9.25. You can express the decimal part as a fractional value ($9 1/4, $9 2/8,
$9 4/16, and so on). The DOLLARFR function takes two arguments: the dollar amount and the
denominator for the fractional part. The following formula, for example, returns 9.1 (the .1 decimal
represents 1/4):

=DOLLARFR(9.25,4)

In most situations, you won’t use the value returned by the DOLLARFR function in other
calculations. In the preceding example, the result of the function will be interpreted as
9.1, not 9.25. To perform calculations on such a value, you need to convert it back to a
decimal value by using the DOLLARDE function.

The DOLLARDE function converts a dollar value expressed as a fraction to a decimal amount. It
also uses a second argument to specify the denominator of the fractional part. The following for-
mula, for example, returns 9.25:

=DOLLARDE(9.1,4)

The DOLLARDE and DOLLARFR functions aren’t limited to dollar values. For example,
you can use these functions to work with feet and inches. You might have a value that
represents 8.5 feet. Use the following formula to express this value in terms of feet and
inches. The formula returns 8.06 (which represents 8 feet, 6 inches).

=DOLLARFR(8.5,12)

Another example is baseball statistics. A pitcher may work 62⁄3 innings, and this is usu-
ally represented as 6.2. The following formula displays 6.2:

=DOLLARFR(6+2/3,3)

Using the INT and TRUNC functions

On the surface, the INT and TRUNC functions seem similar. Both convert a value to an integer.
The TRUNC function simply removes the fractional part of a number. The INT function rounds a
number down to the nearest integer, based on the value of the fractional part of the number.

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 Chapter 10: Miscellaneous Calculations 289

In practice, INT and TRUNC return different results only when using negative numbers. For exam-
ple, the following formula returns –14.0:

=TRUNC(–14.2)

The next formula returns –15.0 because –14.3 is rounded down to the next lower integer:

=INT(–14.2)

The TRUNC function takes an additional (optional) argument that’s useful for truncating decimal
values. For example, the formula that follows returns 54.33 (the value truncated to two decimal
places):

=TRUNC(54.3333333,2)

Rounding to an even or odd integer

The ODD and EVEN functions are provided for situations in which you need to round a number
up to the nearest odd or even integer. These functions take a single argument and return an inte-
ger value. The EVEN function rounds its argument up to the nearest even integer. The ODD func-
tion rounds its argument up to the nearest odd integer. Table 10-2 shows some examples of
these functions.

Table 10-2: Results Using the EVEN and ODD Functions

Number EVEN Function ODD Function
–3.6 –4 –5
–3.0 –4 –3
–2.4 –4 –3
–1.8 –2 –3
–1.2 –2 –3
–0.6 –2 –1
0.0 0 1
0.6 2 1
1.2 2 3
1.8 2 3
2.4 4 3
3.0 4 3
3.6 4 5

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