Ceiling & Floor

When Excel is displaying slightly different values than what is actually stored in the cells that you are working on, it can be beneficial to use one of the several Rounding functions. Two of these rounding functions are CEILING and FLOOR.

The use of a rounding function is often recommended, especially if the numbers you are investigating are the result of multiple mathematical calculations. Multiple calculations may, of course, result in the introduction of rounding errors. These behind-the-scenes errors can cause small inaccuracies which may be very significant when precision is necessary.

The syntax for CEILING is CEILING(Number, Significance) where

·         Number is the number being rounded, and

·         Significance is the number of additional integers to which the number is being rounded.

The following Examples make this a bit clearer:

·         = CEILING(20.3, 1) = 21

·         = CEILING(20.3, 5) = 25

·         = CEILING(-19.9, 2) = -18

The FLOOR function does the very same thing as the CEILING function; however it always rounds down.

CEILING and FLOOR. Two more very useful functions for your Excel toolbelt.