ROUND in Excel: to 2 decimals, to the nearest 10, up or down

By Srini Vanamala / September 29, 2026 / Formulas & Functions
ROUND in Excel: to 2 decimals, to the nearest 10, up or down

ROUND shortens a number to the decimal places you want and actually changes the value — unlike formatting, which only hides digits.

The formula

=ROUND(number, decimals)

Steps

  1. 3.14159 in A1.
  2. Click B1. Type =ROUND(A1, 2). Enter.

Result: 3.14.

The decimals number

Formula 1234.567 becomes
=ROUND(A1, 2) 1234.57
=ROUND(A1, 0) 1235
=ROUND(A1, -1) 1230 (nearest 10)
=ROUND(A1, -2) 1200 (nearest 100)

Always up, always down

=ROUNDUP(A1, 0) → 1235 even for 1234.1. =ROUNDDOWN(A1, 0) → 1234 even for 1234.9.

To the nearest 0.5 or 5

=MROUND(A1, 0.5)
=MROUND(A1, 5)

Why formatting is not enough

Format 2.675 to show 2.68, then multiply by 100 — Excel uses 2.675 and gives 267.5, not 268. ROUND first if the shown number must be the real number (invoices, tax).

Check it worked

=B1*1000 on a ROUNDed 3.14 gives exactly 3140. On a formatted-only cell it gives 3141.59.

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Srini Vanamala

20 years with spreadsheets and enterprise systems. Writes one short, plain-English Excel lesson a day. Got an Excel question? learnexceleasycom@gmail.com

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