Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Rounding Up to the Next Half.
Terry has a need to round numbers up to the next 0.5. This means that a number such as 1.1 would round up to 1.5, but 1.6 would round up to 2.0. He tried using MROUND, but it only rounds to the nearest half (1.1 becomes 1.0 and 1.6 becomes 1.5).
Excel provides several different functions that you can use for different rounding purposes, such as ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, MROUND, FLOOR, CEILING, etc. Each of these has been discussed fully in other issues of ExcelTips. In this particular instance, CEILING would probably be the best solution:
=CEILING(A1,0.5)
This rounds the value in A1 upwards, to the next half. Actually, CEILING rounds away from 0, which means that positive numbers are rounded up but negative numbers are rounded down, away from zero. (For example, -1.1 would be rounded to -1.5, not to 1.0.)
Of course, there are multiple ways to do various tasks in Excel, and this type of rounding is no exception. If you would rather use ROUNDUP instead of CEILING, you could use the following formula:
=ROUNDUP(A1*2,0)/2
If you prefer to use MROUND, you could do the following:
=MROUND(A1+0.24999999,0.5)
This works because you are adding a value (0.249999) that always pushes MROUND over the half-way "tipping point" to force the result upwards.
These are just a few of the easy ways to accomplish the desired result. There are many other ways using the other rounding functions, as well.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11927) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Rounding Up to the Next Half.
Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!
Excel provides a variety of functions you can use to round values in any number of ways. It does not, however, provide a ...
Discover MoreIf you want to round a value to some multiple of a whole number, you'll want to become familiar with the MROUND function. ...
Discover MoreNeed to round values up to the next value that ends in 9? There are a number of ways you can accomplish the task through ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2016-02-09 16:30:37
Chris G
You are correct "Bill H". I have 2013 and Ceiling.Math has an option for changing the mode so that it rounds away from zero.
Ceiling.Math(-2.1, 0.5) = -2.0
Ceiling.Math(-2.1, 0.5, 1) = -2.5
2016-01-31 07:21:52
Michael (Micky) Avidan
@Bill H,
You can still use CEILING with a "little twist":
=CEILING(A1,(A1>0)-0.5)
--------------------------
Michael (Micky) Avidan
“Microsoft® Answers" - Wiki author & Forums Moderator
“Microsoft®” MVP – Excel (2009-2016)
ISRAEL
2016-01-30 06:41:25
Bill H
I don't think that CEILING rounds away from zero. For example, CEILING(-2.1,.5) yields -2.0. (I'm using Excel 2010.)
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
Comments