How to use the Excel CEILING function

Summary

The Excel CEILING function rounds a given number up to the nearest specified multiple. CEILING works like the MROUND function, but CEILING always rounds up.

Purpose

Round a number up to nearest multiple

Return value

A rounded number.

Syntax

=CEILING (number, significance)

Arguments

number - The number that should be rounded.
significance - The multiple to use when rounding.

Version

Excel 2003

Usage notes

The Excel CEILING function rounds a number up to a given multiple. The multiple to use for rounding is provided as the significance argument. If the number is already an exact multiple, no rounding occurs and the original number is returned.

The CEILING function takes two arguments, number, and significance. Number is the numeric value to round up. The significance argument is the multiple to which number should be rounded. In most cases, significance is provided as a numeric value, but CEILING can also understand time entered as text like "0:15". See the example below.

CEILING works like the MROUND function, which also rounds to a given multiple. However, unlike MROUND, which rounds to the nearest multiple, the CEILING function rounds up to the next multiple.

Note: the CEILING function is officially listed as a compatibility function, replaced by CEILING.MATH and CEILING.PRECISE.

Examples

The formulas below show how CEILING rounds up values to a given multiple:

=CEILING(10,3) // returns 12
=CEILING(36,7) // returns 42
=CEILING(309,25) // returns 325
=CEILING(610,100) // returns 700
=CEILING(-5.4,1) // returns -5

To round a number in A1 up to the nearest multiple of 5, you can use a formula like this:

=CEILING(A1,5)

Round pricing up to end with .99

CEILING can be useful to set pricing after currency conversion or discounts are applied. For example, the formula below will round a value in A1 up to the next whole dollar, then subtract 1 cent, to return a price like $2.99, $5.99, $49.99, etc.

=CEILING(A1,1) - 0.01

Round time up to nearest 15 minutes

CEILING understands time formats and can be used to round time up to a given multiple. For example, to round a time in A1 up to the nearest 15 minutes, you can use CEILING like this:

=CEILING(A1,"0:15") // round up to nearest 15 min

Other rounding functions

Excel provides a number of functions for rounding:

To round normally, use the ROUND function.
To round to the nearest multiple, use the MROUND function.
To round down to the nearest specified place, use the ROUNDDOWN function.
To round down to the nearest specified multiple, use the FLOOR function.
To round up to the nearest specified place, use the ROUNDUP function.
To round up to the nearest specified multiple, use the CEILING function.
To round down and return an integer only, use the INT function.
To truncate decimal places, use the TRUNC function.

Notes

CEILING works like the MROUND function, but CEILING always rounds up.
If number is an exact multiple of significance, no rounding occurs.
If number and significance are both negative, CEILING rounds down, away from zero.
If number is negative, and significance is positive, CEILING rounds up, towards zero.
For more control over how CEILING rounds negative numbers, see the CEILING.MATH function.

Related functions

Excel MROUND Function

The Excel MROUND function returns a number rounded to a given multiple. MROUND will round a number up or down, depending on the nearest multiple.

Excel FLOOR Function

The Excel FLOOR function rounds a given number down to the nearest specified multiple. FLOOR works like the MROUND function, but FLOOR always rounds down.

Excel ROUND Function

The Excel ROUND function returns a number rounded to a given number of digits. The ROUND function can round to the right or left of the decimal point.

Excel ROUNDDOWN Function

The Excel ROUNDDOWN function returns a number rounded down to a given number of places. Unlike standard rounding, where only numbers less than 5 are rounded down, ROUNDDOWN rounds all numbers down.

Excel ROUNDUP Function

The Excel ROUNDUP function returns a number rounded up to a given number of decimal places. Unlike standard rounding, where only numbers less than 5 are rounded down, ROUNDUP rounds all numbers up.

Excel CEILING Function

The Excel CEILING function rounds a given number up to the nearest specified multiple. CEILING works like the MROUND function, but CEILING always rounds up.

Excel EVEN Function

The Excel EVEN function rounds numbers up to the next even integer. The EVEN function always rounds numbers away from zero, so positive numbers become larger and negative numbers become smaller (i.e. more negative).

Excel ODD Function

The Excel ODD function returns the next odd integer after rounding a given number up. The ODD function always rounds numbers away from zero, so positive numbers become larger and negative numbers become smaller (i.e. more negative).

Excel INT Function

The Excel INT function returns the integer part of a decimal number by rounding down to the integer. Note that negative numbers become more negative. For example, while INT(10.8) returns 10, INT(-10.8) returns -11.

Excel TRUNC Function

The Excel TRUNC function returns a truncated number based on an (optional) number of digits. For example, TRUNC(4.9) will return 4, and TRUNC(-3.5) will return -3. The TRUNC function does no rounding, it simply truncates as specified.