ISO.CEILING Function in Excel: Round Up, Ignoring the Sign

ISO.CEILING Function in Excel: Round Up, Ignoring the Sign featured illustration

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⏱ 2 min readUpdated 28 September 2026

MathLevel: ExpertAvailable in: Excel 2010+

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

ISO.CEILING always rounds towards positive infinity, whatever the sign of the multiple — useful when data mixes positive and negative adjustments.

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Syntax

=ISO.CEILING(number, [significance])
Argument What it means
significance Default 1.

Examples

Example 1

=ISO.CEILING(-4.3)

Returns −4.

ISO.CEILING in practice

Where you will use it

  • Round up to a multiple (same as CEILING.MATH default)
  • Billing units
  • Compatibility with other spreadsheets

Worked example

ValueStepFormulaResult
4.31=ISO.CEILING(A2,B2)5
-4.31=ISO.CEILING(A3,B3)-4
225=ISO.CEILING(A4,B4)25

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
NegativesRounded toward zero (up)
Sign of step ignoredAbsolute value is used

CEILING.MATH

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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

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