ROUND, ROUNDUP, and ROUNDDOWN Functions in Excel: Complete Guide with Examples | SheetXAI

The Problem

You have numbers with many decimal places (like 3.14159265) and need to round them to 2 decimal places for currency, or always round up for pricing, or always round down for inventory.

The Easy Way: Use SheetXAI

If you don't want to mess with formulas, the fastest way to do this is simply by asking.

With SheetXAI, you can open the sidebar and type:

Round the number in A2 to 2 decimal places.

SheetXAI will instantly write the formula or script for you and fill the cells. It handles the syntax so you can focus on the result.

The Manual Way: The Formulas You Need

To do this manually, you need to use: ROUND, ROUNDUP, or ROUNDDOWN.

1. ROUND

Rounds a number to a specified number of digits. Uses standard rounding rules (0.5 rounds up).

Syntax: =ROUND(number, num_digits)

• number: The number you want to round.
• num_digits: The number of digits to round to. Positive = decimal places, negative = whole number places.

Example: ROUND(3.14159, 2) returns 3.14. ROUND(1234, -2) returns 1200.

2. ROUNDUP

Rounds a number up, away from zero, to a specified number of digits. Always rounds up, even if the next digit is less than 5.

Syntax: =ROUNDUP(number, num_digits)

• number: The number you want to round up.
• num_digits: The number of digits to round to.

Example: ROUNDUP(3.141, 2) returns 3.15 (always rounds up).

3. ROUNDDOWN

Rounds a number down, toward zero, to a specified number of digits. Always rounds down, even if the next digit is 5 or greater.

Syntax: =ROUNDDOWN(number, num_digits)

• number: The number you want to round down.
• num_digits: The number of digits to round to.

Example: ROUNDDOWN(3.149, 2) returns 3.14 (always rounds down).

Understanding the Logic

1. ROUND: Standard rounding (0.5 rounds up). Use for general rounding needs.
2. ROUNDUP: Always rounds up. Use for pricing, billing, or when you need to be conservative (round up).
3. ROUNDDOWN: Always rounds down. Use for inventory, capacity, or when you need to be conservative (round down).

Key differences:

• ROUND(3.145, 2) = 3.15 (standard rounding)
• ROUNDUP(3.141, 2) = 3.15 (always up)
• ROUNDDOWN(3.149, 2) = 3.14 (always down)

Common use cases:

• ROUND: Currency formatting, general number display
• ROUNDUP: Pricing calculations, minimum charges
• ROUNDDOWN: Inventory counts, capacity limits

The Final Formula:

=ROUND(A2, 2)

Conclusion

Now you know the "classic" way to solve this using formulas. It's a great skill to have.

But for those times when you just want the job done without the mental math, SheetXAI is there to help.

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