Syntax. CEILING(number,significance)
Definition. This function rounds a number to the smallest multiple of significance.
Arguments
number (required) The value you want to round
significance (required) The multiple to which you want to round
Background. The CEILING() function allows you to round numbers up to a specified interval limit. This method is especially useful for commercial arithmetic. Of course you could use the other rounding functions in different formulas, but CEILING() is the fastest method.
The sign of the number is taken into consideration when the value is
rounded; in other words, for a positive sign the value is rounded up, and for a negative sign the
value is rounded down. If number is an exact multiple of
significance, no rounding occurs. If one of the arguments isn’t a numeric
expression, the CEILING() function returns the #VALUE! error. If
number and significance have different signs, the function
returns the #NUM! error.
Example. Assume that you want to calculate the payments in a pay scale table according to the increase in pay rates. All amounts have to be rounded to 50 cents. In other words, you want only amounts with a 0 or a 5 after the decimal point.
The formula
=CEILING(amount,0.5)
More examples for this function are:
=CEILING(2345.47,0.5) returns $2,345.50.
=CEILING(2345.67,0.5) returns $2,346.00.