The Excel CEILING function rounds a number up to the nearest multiple of a significance you choose — the classic way to round prices up to the next nickel, dollar, or any increment.
Syntax
| Argument | Description | |
|---|---|---|
number | Required | The value you want to round up. |
significance | Required | The multiple to round up to. For positive numbers it must be positive; mixing signs causes an error. |
How to use it
CEILING rounds up (away from zero) to the next multiple of significance:
For negative numbers, classic CEILING rounds toward zero when significance is negative. The newer CEILING.MATH handles negatives more predictably and lets significance be omitted.
Opposite signs error. If number is positive and significance is negative (or vice-versa), classic CEILING returns an error. Match the signs, or switch to CEILING.MATH.
Try it: interactive demo
Pick a CEILING example to see the formula and its result.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
What does CEILING do differently from ROUNDUP?
Why does CEILING return an error?
number and significance have opposite signs. Match them, or use CEILING.MATH, which doesn't have this restriction.How does CEILING handle negative numbers?
Should I use CEILING or CEILING.MATH?
significance optional, defaulting to 1, and adds a mode argument for negatives. Use it for new work unless you need backward compatibility.Master functions like this in one day
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