CEILING.MATH Function in Excel: Round Up to a Multiple

📎 This article includes 1 downloadable practice file ↓

MathLevel: IntermediateAvailable in: Excel 2013+

In this article

1. Syntax
2. Examples
3. Example 1
4. Example 2
5. CEILING.MATH in practice
6. Where you will use it
7. Worked example
8. Mistakes people make
9. Related functions
10. Continue learning

CEILING.MATH rounds up to the next multiple; FLOOR.MATH rounds down. Great for pricing and pack sizes.

Syntax

=CEILING.MATH(number, [significance])

Argument	What it means
significance	The multiple (1 if omitted).

Examples

Example 1

=CEILING.MATH(B2, 10)-1

Psychological pricing: ₹342 → ₹349.

Example 2

=CEILING.MATH(C2, 6)

Order quantity in full packs of 6.

CEILING.MATH in practice

Where you will use it

• Round up to pack sizes when values can be negative
• Billing slabs with refunds
• Round time up to the next half hour

Worked example

Value	Step	Formula	Result
-7.3	1	=CEILING.MATH(A2,B2)	-7
12.1	5	=CEILING.MATH(A3,B3)	15
0.48	0.25	=CEILING.MATH(A4,B4)	0.5

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

Mistake	What to do instead
Expecting -7.3 to become -8	CEILING.MATH rounds negatives toward zero (-7) unless mode is non-zero
Forgetting significance	Without it, it rounds up to the next whole number

Related functions

FLOOR.MATH · MROUND · ROUNDUP

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📎 Practice files for this article

• 📗
  Practice workbook: Math & rounding24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
  ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.