Round Numbers in Excel

Rounding numbers in Excel is a common task when you’re working with financial data, calculations, or any situation where precision is important.

Excel offers several functions to round numbers in different ways, depending on your needs.

In this tutorial, we’ll go over how to use the main rounding functions in Excel, including ROUND, ROUNDDOWN, ROUNDUP, and other useful techniques.

Round Numbers in Excel

Understanding Rounding Functions in Excel

Excel provides a few different rounding functions to help you control how your numbers are displayed and calculated. Here’s a quick overview of the main functions we’ll cover:

  • ROUND: Rounds a number to a specified number of digits.
  • ROUNDUP: Always rounds a number up, away from zero.
  • ROUNDDOWN: Always rounds a number down, toward zero.
  • MROUND: Rounds a number to the nearest multiple of a specified value.
  • INT: Rounds a number down to the nearest integer.

Example 1: Using the ROUND Function

The ROUND function allows you to round a number to a specific number of decimal places. The syntax is:

=ROUND(number, num_digits)

Where:

  • number: The number you want to round.
  • num_digits: The number of decimal places to round to. Use a positive number to round to decimal places, or a negative number to round to whole numbers.

Example: Let’s say you have the number 123.4567 in cell A1, and you want to round it to two decimal places.

Using the ROUND Function to round to two decimal places
  • In cell A2, enter the formula: =ROUND(A1, 2).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.46 because Excel rounds the number to two decimal places.

If you change the second argument to 0, Excel will round to the nearest whole number:

Using the ROUND Function to round to zero decimal places
  • In cell A3, enter the formula: =ROUND(A1, 0).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.

In the following video, we have shown the above two scenarios.

Example 2: Using the ROUNDUP Function

The ROUNDUP function rounds a number up, away from zero, regardless of the decimal value. This is useful when you always need to round a number up, such as when calculating minimum quantities for inventory or project estimates.

Example: Let’s round the number 123.4567 up to two decimal places:

  • In cell B1, enter the formula: =ROUNDUP(A1, 2).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.46, rounding up the value in A1 to two decimal places.
Using the ROUNDUP Function to round up to two decimal places

If you round to zero decimal places, the number will always round up to the next whole number, even if the decimal value is less than 0.5:

Using the ROUNDUP Function to round up to zero decimal places
  • In cell B2, enter the formula: =ROUNDUP(A1, 0).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 124.

Example 3: Using the ROUNDDOWN Function

The ROUNDDOWN function is the opposite of ROUNDUP. It rounds numbers down, toward zero, regardless of the decimal value. This is helpful when you need to limit values conservatively, like when calculating budgets or estimates.

Example: Let’s round the number 123.4567 down to two decimal places:

Using the ROUNDDOWN Function to round the number down, to two decimal places
  • In cell A2, enter the formula: =ROUNDDOWN(A1, 2).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.45, rounding down the value in A1 to two decimal places.

If you round down to zero decimal places, the number will always round down to the nearest whole number:

Using the ROUNDDOWN Function to round the number down, to zero decimal places
  • In cell A3, enter the formula: =ROUNDDOWN(A1, 0).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.

Example 4: Using the MROUND Function

The MROUND function rounds a number to the nearest multiple of a specified value. This is useful when you need to round to specific increments, such as rounding to the nearest 10, 100, or 0.5.

Example: Let’s round the number 123.4567 to the nearest multiple of 0.5:

  • In cell D1, enter the formula: =MROUND(A1, 0.5).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123.5, rounding the value in A1 to the nearest 0.5.

You can also round to the nearest whole number or any other multiple. For example, rounding to the nearest 10:

  • In cell D2, enter the formula: =MROUND(A1, 10).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 120.

Example 5: Using the INT Function

The INT function rounds numbers down to the nearest integer by removing the decimal part of a number. It’s especially useful when you want to ignore decimal values completely.

Example: Let’s use the INT function to round 123.4567 down to the nearest integer:

  • In cell E1, enter the formula: =INT(A1).
  • Press Enter. The result will be 123, rounding the value down to the nearest whole number.

The INT function is different from ROUND or ROUNDDOWN because it always rounds down to the nearest whole number, regardless of the decimal value.

Conclusion

Rounding numbers in Excel is an essential skill for data analysis, financial reporting, and many other scenarios. Whether you need to round numbers up, down, or to the nearest multiple, Excel provides a variety of functions to meet your needs. The ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, MROUND, and INT functions offer flexibility and precision in handling your data. Practice these examples in Excel, and soon you’ll be able to round numbers quickly and accurately, no matter the situation.