ROUND Function in Excel – Normal Rounding in Excel

Rounding of numbers in Excel is one of the very common things that an excel user performs while working with numbers in excel. In excel, there are many formulas to round numbers. For example – MROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, ROUND, FLOOR, CEILING, etc. Each of these rounding functions has its own usage, purpose, and functionality. In this tutorial, we would learn about how to use the ROUND function in excel.

What is Rounding Technique of Numbers

The term ‘Rounding’ is not specific to excel, but is a general word.

Rounding is a technique used in mathematics to remove extra decimal or integer digits from a number.

It means that by rounding, a large number having unwanted decimal/integer digits becomes shorter. However, it is pertinent to note that even though the number becomes shorter, it still remains very near to the original number.

Let’s take an example to understand how rounding of numbers work in general.

Suppose you have a decimal number 764.8452369512 with up to 10 decimal digits. You want to make the number shorter by eliminating eight digits from the right.

By removing eight decimal digits, the new number becomes 764.85.

You will notice that even though we have removed the extra decimal digits from the original number 764.8452369512, the new number is very approximate to the original number.

Let us now learn how to perform rounding technique using the ROUND excel formula.

Here we go 😎

When to Use ROUND Function in Excel

The excel ROUND function is a useful excel formula to return a result by rounding numbers up to specific digits in excel. This function always rounds the numbers 1 to 4 downwards and the numbers 5 to 9 upwards.

This function helps in rounding on the left as well as on the right side of the decimal point.

The ROUND excel formula forms a part of the math/trig excel function group.

The output of this formula is either an integer value or a decimal number depending upon the input argument used.

To round the number only upwards or downwards, use ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN functions respectively.

Syntax and Arguments

=ROUND(number, num_digits)

Below bullet points explain the two input arguments of excel ROUND formula.

  • number – In this argument, mention the decimal/integer number to be rounded off.
  • num_digits – In this argument, specify the number of integer/decimal digits up to which excel should round the original number. (explained in below section)

Purpose of num_digits in ROUND Excel Funtion

The num_digits argument of the ROUND formula accepts any of these three values:

  • Value greater than zero (0) – Enter a positive integer to round the digits on the right side of the decimal point.
  • Value less than zero (0) – Enter a negative integer to round the digits on the left side of the decimal point.
  • Zero (0) – The num_digits with zero (0) value will round the number to the nearest whole number.

As mentioned before, the ROUND function always rounds the numbers 1 to 4 downwards and the numbers 5 to 9 upwards.

Let’s look at some examples of ROUND function in excel to understand how the excel ROUND formula works.

Infographic - ROUND Formula Function in Excel

ROUND Excel Formula – Examples

Ex. 1 # Round Numbers Using num_digits > 0

As mentioned in the above section, the num_digits argument with a positive integer will round the digits on the right side of the decimal point.

Suppose the number to round is 187.451236.

To round the decimal values, simply use the following formula:

=ROUND(187.451236,1)

As a result, excel rounds the number 187.451236 upto 1 decimal place.

ROUND Excel Function - Value Greater Than 0

Similarly, the formula =ROUND(187.451236,3) will round the number up to three decimal places, like this:

ROUND Excel Function - Upto Three Decimal Places

Ex. 2 # Round Numbers Using num_digits < 0

The num_digits argument with a negative integer will round the digits on the left side of the decimal point.

Taking the same example number 187.451236. To round this number to the nearest integer value, use the following formula:

=ROUND(187.451236,-1)

As a result, excel returns 190.

ROUND Excel Function - Value less than 0

Similarly, the formula =ROUND(187.451236,-2) will give result as 200.

ROUND Excel Function - num_digits less than 0

Ex. 3 # Round Numbers Using num_digits = 0

When you put the num_digits input argument value as 0, excel will round the given number upton the nearest whole number.

=ROUND(187.451236,0)

This formula will result in 187.

ROUND Excel Function - Round Upto Nearest Integer Value

Thank You 🙂

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