Excel: Excel CEILING Function Tutorial

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The CEILING function is used to round a number upwards to the nearest multiple of a specified value.

For example, the function can be used to round up the costs of items to the nearest dime ( $ 0.10 ) to avoid having to deal with smaller change such as pennies ($ 0.01 ) and nickels ($ 0.05 ).

The syntax for the CEILING function is:

= CEILING ( Number, Significance )

Number – the value to be rounded.

Significance – the function rounds the Number specified above up to the nearest multiple of this value.
Example: Using Excel’s CEILING Function

For help with this example, see the image above.

Enter the following data into cells D1 to D3: 34.57, 23.82, 31.16

Click on cell E1 in the spreadsheet – this is where the function will be located.

Click on the Formulas tab of the ribbon menu.

Choose Math & Trig from the ribbon to open the function drop down list.

Click on CEILING in the list to bring up the function’s dialog box.

In the dialog box, click on the Number line.

Click on cell D1 in the spreadsheet.

In the dialog box, click on the Significance line.

Type in 0.10 – the number in D1 will be rounded up to the nearest multiple of 0.10.

Click OK.

The answer 34.60 should appear in cell E1 since 34.60 is the nearest multiple of 0.10
( 0.10 * 6 ) higher than 34.57.

Drag the fill handle in the bottom right corner of cell E1 down to cells D2 and D3 to copy the function to those cells.

The cells D2 and D3 should have the answers 23.90 and 31.20 respectively.

When you click on cell E1 the complete function = CEILING ( D1 , 0.1 ) appears in the formula bar above the worksheet.

Source:
http://spreadsheets.about.com/od/excelfunctions/qt/90128_ceiling.htm