CEILING - Excel - Microsoft Office Online

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CEILING

Applies to: Microsoft Office Excel 2003

Returns number rounded up, away from zero, to the nearest multiple of significance. For example, if you want to avoid using pennies in your prices and your product is priced at $4.42, use the formula =CEILING(4.42,0.05) to round prices up to the nearest nickel.

Syntax

CEILING(number,significance)

Number is the value you want to round.

Significance is the multiple to which you want to round.

Remarks

If either argument is nonnumeric, CEILING returns the #VALUE! error value.
Regardless of the sign of number, a value is rounded up when adjusted away from zero. If number is an exact multiple of significance, no rounding occurs.
If number and significance have different signs, CEILING returns the #NUM! error value.

Example

The example may be easier to understand if you copy it to a blank worksheet.

Show How to copy an example

Create a blank workbook or worksheet.
Select the example in the Help topic.
Note Do not select the row or column headers.

Selecting an example from Help
Press CTRL+C.
In the worksheet, select cell A1, and press CTRL+V.
To switch between viewing the results and viewing the formulas that return the results, press CTRL+` (grave accent), or on the Tools menu, point to Formula Auditing, and then click Formula Auditing Mode.

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A	B
Formula	Description (Result)
=CEILING(2.5, 1)	Rounds 2.5 up to nearest multiple of 1 (3)
=CEILING(-2.5, -2)	Rounds -2.5 up to nearest multiple of -2 (-4)
=CEILING(-2.5, 2)	Returns an error, because -2.5 and 2 have different signs (#NUM!)
=CEILING(1.5, 0.1)	Rounds 1.5 up to the nearest multiple of 0.1 (1.5)
=CEILING(0.234, 0.01)	Rounds 0.234 up to the nearest multiple of 0.01 (0.24)