ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN and MROUND functions in Excel

ROUND rounds a number to a chosen number of decimal places; ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN force the direction, and MROUND rounds to a multiple.

Rounding in Excel comes in two kinds that look alike and are not. You can change how many decimals a cell shows, using the number format. Or you can change the number itself, using these functions. Knowing the difference saves hours of chasing totals that are "one paisa out".

Syntax

=ROUND(number, num_digits)

=ROUNDUP(number, num_digits)

=ROUNDDOWN(number, num_digits)

=MROUND(number, multiple)

Argument	What it is
`number`	The number to round.
`num_digits`	How many decimal places to keep. 0 gives a whole number. A negative figure rounds to tens, hundreds and so on.
`multiple`	For MROUND: the step to round to, such as 5, 50 or 0.25.

Examples

Each result below is what Excel itself showed for the formula on the sample sheet.

Sample sheet: A small price list with item codes. The table is sorted by code.

	A	B	C	D	E
1	Code	Item	Category	Price	Stock
2	A101	Basmati Rice 5 kg	Grocery	650	40
3	A102	Toor Dal 1 kg	Grocery	160	75
4	B201	Notebook	Stationery	60	300
5	B202	Ball Pen	Stationery	10	0
6	C301	LED Bulb	Electronics	110	200
7	C302	Power Bank	Electronics	1299	18
8	D401	Steel Bottle	Home	450	55

=ROUND(D7*1.18,2)
Result: 1532.82
Price with 18 percent tax, to two decimal places.
=ROUND(D7*1.18,0)
Result: 1533
The same figure to the nearest rupee.
=ROUND(D7,-2)
Result: 1300
A negative figure rounds to the left of the decimal point: 1299 to the nearest hundred.
=ROUNDUP(D2/12,0)
Result: 55
650 divided by 12 is a little over 54. ROUNDUP always goes up, to 55.
=ROUNDDOWN(D2/12,0)
Result: 54
ROUNDDOWN always goes down.
=ROUND(2.5,0)
Result: 3
A value exactly halfway rounds away from zero, as taught in school.
=MROUND(D7,50)
Result: 1300
To the nearest multiple of 50.
=ROUNDUP(D5/100,0)*100
Result: 100
Rounding up to the next hundred with ROUNDUP.

Formatting is not rounding

The Decrease Decimal button on the Home tab only changes the display. A cell that shows 54.17 may hold 54.1666666. Any formula that uses the cell uses the full value. That is how a column of rounded-looking figures can add up to a total that seems wrong by a small amount.

When the rounded value is the real one, as with an invoice amount, round it with a function.

The num_digits argument

num_digits	Rounds to	1234.567 becomes
2	two decimal places	1234.57
1	one decimal place	1234.6
0	a whole number	1235
-1	the nearest ten	1230
-2	the nearest hundred	1200
-3	the nearest thousand	1000

Which function?

ROUND goes to the nearest value. A 5 in the next place goes away from zero: 2.5 becomes 3 and -2.5 becomes -3.
ROUNDUP always moves away from zero. Use it for "how many boxes, buses or pages do I need?", where a part counts as a whole one.
ROUNDDOWN always moves towards zero. Use it for completed units, such as full years of service.
MROUND goes to the nearest multiple of a step: prices to the nearest 5 rupees, times to the nearest quarter of an hour.

To force a direction with a step, use CEILING to go up and FLOOR to go down: =CEILING(1299,50) gives 1300, and =FLOOR(1299,50) gives 1250.

Where to round in a calculation

Round at the end, not at every step. Rounding early throws away detail, and the small errors pile up. There is one exception: when a rule says each line must be rounded, as on a tax invoice, round each line and then add the rounded lines, so that the printed figures add up.

Why 0.1 plus 0.2 is not exactly 0.3

Computers store decimals in binary, and many simple decimals cannot be stored exactly. Now and then a result such as 0.30000000000000004 appears, or a comparison such as =A1=0.3 is unexpectedly FALSE. Wrapping a calculation in ROUND before comparing it cures this.

Common mistakes

Using cell formatting where a rounded value was needed.
Expecting ROUND to round a half to the nearest even number, as some programming languages do. Excel rounds a half away from zero.
#NUM! from MROUND when the number and the multiple have different signs.

In Google Sheets

All four functions exist in Google Sheets and work the same way. In Sheets, the number of places in ROUND may be left out, and then it rounds to a whole number.

Related functions

Every result on this page was calculated in Microsoft Excel (version 16.0, build 20326) on 12 November 2026, not typed by hand.

This is an independent help site. It is not connected with or approved by Microsoft. Excel and Microsoft 365 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, named here only to say which program a formula is for. The people and figures in the sample sheets are made up.