The Excel CEILING.PRECISE function rounds a number up to the nearest multiple of significance, always rounding up (toward positive infinity) regardless of the number's sign.
Syntax
| Argument | Description | |
|---|---|---|
number | Required | The value you want to round up. |
significance | Optional | The multiple to round to. Its sign is ignored. Defaults to 1. |
How to use it
CEILING.PRECISE always rounds up toward positive infinity, and it ignores the sign of significance — so it never errors on mixed signs:
For negatives, “up” means toward zero, so -4.3 becomes -4. This matches ISO.CEILING exactly — the two are functionally identical.
Significance sign is ignored. Unlike classic CEILING, =CEILING.PRECISE(23, -5) still returns 25 — the negative sign on significance is simply discarded.
Try it: interactive demo
Pick a CEILING.PRECISE example to see the formula and its result.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How is CEILING.PRECISE different from CEILING?
significance, so it never errors on mixed signs. Classic CEILING does.Is CEILING.PRECISE the same as ISO.CEILING?
significance to 1. ISO.CEILING exists mainly for ODF/ISO compatibility.Why does CEILING.PRECISE(-4.3) give -4 and not -5?
Does the sign of significance matter?
=CEILING.PRECISE(23, -5) returns 25, the same as =CEILING.PRECISE(23, 5).Master functions like this in one day
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