Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Rounding by Powers of 10.

Rounding by Powers of 10

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 14, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


If you want to round a number to the nearest 10, 100, or 1000, you can use the ROUND function with negative values for the second parameter. This approach works very well—and very quickly.

For instance, if you have a value in cell D6 and you want to round it to the nearest 100, you could use the following formula:

=ROUND(D6,-2)

This rounds to second digit to the left of the current decimal place. For instance, if D6 contains the value 12345, then the formula returns 12300. Similarly, if D6 contains 12351, then the formula returns 12400.

You can use the same technique to round to the nearest 10 by using -1 as the second parameter, or to the nearest 1000 by using -3.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2404) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Rounding by Powers of 10.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Animated Menus

Want to get a bit fancy with how the Word interface behaves? You can configure Word so that its menus don't just appear, ...

Discover More

Placing the First Two Words from the Following Page In the Footer

Headers and footers can be used for all sorts of information to help orient your document reader. In fact, Word provides ...

Discover More

Setting the Left Indent of a Paragraph in a Macro

When using a macro to format text, you can set all sorts of attributes for paragraphs or individual characters. One ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Using the ABS Function

Need to find the absolute value of a number? That's where the ABS function comes into play.

Discover More

Using the IRR Function

When working with finances, you often need to know the rate of return on a given investment. The most common type of ...

Discover More

Calculating Combinations

The COMBIN function is used to determine the number of combinations that can be made from a group of elements. This tip ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 + 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.