Explanation
The ROUNDUP function rounds a number up to a given number of places. The number of places is controlled by the number of digits provided in the second argument ( num_digits ). For example, these formulas round the number 5.13 up to 1 and zero places:
=ROUNDUP(5.13,1) // returns 5.2
=ROUNDUP(5.13,0) // returns 6
In the example, the formula in cell D7 is
=ROUNDUP(B7,C7)
This tells Excel to take the value in B7 (PI) and round it to the number of digits in cell C7 (3) with a result of 3.142 Notice that even though the number in the 4th position to the right of the decimal is 1, it is still rounded up to 2.
In the table, the ROUNDUP function is used to round the same number (pi, created with the PI function ) to a decreasing number of digits, starting at 4 and moving down past zero to -1. Note that positive numbers round to the right of the decimal point, while digits less than or equal to zero round to the left.
You can see that ROUNDUP is a rather heavy-handed function, so use with care. You can use the CEILING function to round a number up to a given multiple. If you want to discard the decimal portion of a number, you can use the TRUNC function .
Explanation
The Excel CEILING function rounds a number up to a given multiple. The multiple to use for rounding is given as the second argument ( significance ). If the number is already an exact multiple, no rounding occurs. CEILING works like the MROUND function , but unlike MROUND, which rounds to the nearest multiple, CEILING always rounds up to the given multiple.
In the example shown, the formula in cell D6 is
=CEILING(B6,C6)
This tells Excel to take the value in B6 ( $33.39 ) and round it to the nearest multiple of the value in C6 (5). The result is $35.00, since 35 is the next multiple of 5 after 33.39. In cell D10, we are rounding the same number, 33.39 up to the nearest multiple of 1 and get 34.00.
You can use CEILING to round prices, times, instrument readings or any other numeric value.
CEILING rounds up using the multiple supplied. You can use the MROUND function to round to the nearest multiple and the FLOOR function to round down to a multiple.
