How to Round Numbers in Excel (ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN and More)

Excel can show numbers with fewer decimal places, but that isn't the same as rounding them. If you need numbers that are genuinely rounded, for invoices, reports or totals that add up correctly, you need a rounding function.

Formatting vs rounding

The Increase Decimal and Decrease Decimal buttons on the Home tab only change how a number looks. If a cell contains 12.3456 and you show it as 12.35, Excel still uses 12.3456 in every calculation.

That's how you end up with a column of prices that visibly add up to £100.00 but a total showing £100.01. To fix it, round the actual values.

ROUND: normal rounding

=ROUND(A2, 2)

The second number is how many decimal places to keep. Values ending in 5 or above round up, below 5 round down.

• =ROUND(12.3456, 2) → 12.35
• =ROUND(12.3456, 0) → 12
• =ROUND(12.5, 0) → 13

Round to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000

Use a negative number of decimal places:

• =ROUND(1478, -1) → 1,480 (nearest 10)
• =ROUND(1478, -2) → 1,500 (nearest 100)
• =ROUND(1478, -3) → 1,000 (nearest 1,000)

ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN

These always go in one direction, whatever the next digit is.

• =ROUNDUP(12.01, 0) → 13
• =ROUNDDOWN(12.99, 0) → 12

ROUNDUP is handy for things like "how many boxes do I need?" If 47 items fit 10 to a box, =ROUNDUP(47/10, 0) gives 5 boxes, not 4.7.

Round to the nearest multiple: MROUND

=MROUND(A2, 0.05)

rounds to the nearest 5p. Other examples:

• =MROUND(A2, 5) rounds to the nearest 5.
• =MROUND(A2, 0.25) rounds to the nearest quarter, useful for hours worked.

To always round up or down to a multiple, use CEILING.MATH and FLOOR.MATH. For example, =CEILING.MATH(A2, 0.5) rounds up to the next half.

Just the whole number: INT and TRUNC

• =INT(12.9) → 12. It removes the decimal part (for negative numbers it rounds down, so INT(-12.9) is -13).
• =TRUNC(12.9) → 12. It simply chops the decimals off, even for negative numbers.

Rounding inside a formula

You can wrap any calculation in ROUND:

=ROUND(B2*C2*1.2, 2)

This works out the price with VAT and rounds it to pennies before it's added to a total, so your invoice lines add up exactly.

Troubleshooting

The total is still a penny out. Round each line, not just the total. Totals of rounded lines can legitimately differ from a rounded total.

ROUND didn't seem to do anything. The cell may be formatted to show more decimals as zeros, like 12.3500. Decrease the decimal places.

I want to round every number in the sheet without formulas. Use File > Options > Advanced > Set precision as displayed. Be careful. This permanently changes the stored values in the whole workbook and can't be undone.

Wrapping up

Use the decimal buttons to change how numbers look, and ROUND to change what they actually are. Reach for ROUNDUP when you can't have part of something, and MROUND for the nearest 5p or quarter-hour.