What Is ROUNDUP Function in Google Sheets?
The ROUNDUP function in Google Sheets is used to round a number up to a given number of decimal places. The function is handy for those applications where you need to round up a number to a fixed number of decimal places. The function is straightforward to use; you have to specify the number that needs to be rounded up and also the number of places you want to round the number up to as arguments.
Let us look at an example. Let us use the formula below to round up the value PI to 3 decimal places: =ROUNDUP(PI(), 3).
The number will be rounded up to 3.15. If you omit the places parameter, the number will be rounded up to 4.

Key Takeaways
- The ROUNDUP function in Google Sheets rounds a number to a specified number of decimal places.
- The syntax for the ROUNDUP is as follows:
=ROUNDUP(value, [places])
a. Value: The number you want to round up.
b. Places: (optional) The number of decimal places to round to. The default is zero. - In case the second argument is zero, the function rounds to the nearest whole number.
- If the second argument is negative, it rounds to the left of the left of the decimal point. For example, ROUNDUP(1234.56, -2) would round up to 1300.
- It is commonly used to round up prices or any data, such as inventory tracking, where your number should stay within a certain value.
Syntax
The syntax of the ROUNDUP function in Google Sheets is as follows:
=ROUNDUP(value,[places])
- value – The number to round up to
- places – [0 by default ] – The number of decimal places to round up to.
If “places” is a negative number, it is rounded up to the specified number of digits to the left of the decimal point. Note that ROUNDUP operates just like ROUND, but it is always used to round up.
How to use ROUNDUP Function in Google Sheets?
There are two ways to enter the CSC function in Google Sheets.
Entering the CSC Function manually
Let us look at a simple way to round up some numbers manually. We have entered a group of numbers in Column A.

Step 1: Select the range of cells for rounding up. Here, it is A1 to A5. Now, in cell B1, enter the following formula.
=ROUNDUP(

Step 2: To round up the numbers to the nearest hundred, use the arguments as follows: =ROUNDUP(A1, 2) and close the parenthesis.

Step 3: Press Enter. Drag the formula down to the other cells in the column to apply it to all the values in the range.

Using the Google Menu bar
- We can also enter the same function using the Google Menu bar.
- Go to the menu bar and click on “Insert” – “Function” – “Math” – “ROUNDUP.”
- Enter the required arguments. Close the bracket and press the “Enter” key.

Note: When using the ROUNDUP, if you specify no second parameter, like in =ROUNDUP(3.141), it will be rounded up to the nearest whole number. Here, the value will be 4 because it is the next higher value.
Examples
Now that we have understood some basic points about the function, let’s study it in detail with some interesting examples.
Example #1 – Round Up to One Decimal Place
Imagine you have some sales data with lots of decimal points. To plan your inventory, you must round up the numbers up to one decimal place as you want to round up the total sales to the nearest tenth to plan inventory.
Step 1: The following are the sales figures of a company.

Step 2: Now, let us round the figures to one decimal place and then highlight the ones less than 30.0
Use the ROUNDUP in Google Sheets formula in cell B2 as follows.
=ROUNDUP(A2,1)
Here, 1 is to round it up to one decimal place. Press Enter.

Step 3: Now, we must get the values for the other cells. Drag the formula to B8.

Step 4: We must highlight the cells with values below 30.0. Go to Format -Conditional Formatting.

Step 5: Now, in the Conditional Format rules pane on the right, select the range as B1:B8. Choose Less than under Format rules, and enter 30.

Step 6: Press Done. You get the values below 30 highlighted.

To understand the result, if the value is 56.11, the total sales with the ROUNDUP function will be converted to 56.2.
Thus, it can help businesses in inventory planning to ensure that they are always stocked up without shortage but not overstocked, as we round to the nearest single decimal.
Example #2 – Round Up to the Next Integer
We have a list of test scores in Google Sheets that we want to round up to the nearest integer. Let’s use the ROUNDUP function in Google Sheets for this.
Step 1: Suppose you have the following scores of students in cells A1 to A6.

Step 2: Now, to round up to nearest integer, you can use the ROUNDUP function in B1 as shown below.
=ROUNDUP(A1). You can supply the second argument as zero or it is zero by default.

Step 3: Now, drag the formula down from cell B1 to B6 to apply the formula to the other scores.

Step 4: All the scores are rounded to the nearest integer. Now, let us apply the ROUND function to the same set of numbers to understand the difference. Apply the following formula in cell C1.
=ROUND(A1)

Now, drag the formula till C6 to compare the results.

Each score in column A is rounded up to the following whole number in column B. As seen above, 72.85 becomes 73, and even 76.1 becomes 77.
However, ROUND rounds a number up if the next digit is 5 or higher and rounds it down if it is below 5. So as seen, 85.4 becomes 85. 91.75 becomes 92.
This method is proper when you need integers, such as when counting items or people.
Example #3 – Round Up to Different Place Values
Let us use the same data values as above to round up the numbers to differenct place values. Let the first number be rounded up to one decimal place, second to two places and so on. Enter the following values in Column B.

Step 1: Use the following formula in cell C1.
=ROUNDUP(A1, B1). Press Enter.

Step 2: Drag the formula till cell C6.

You can observe that despite giving bigger numbers for decimal places arguments, you get the values only up to the decimal places present in the first place.
Example #4 – Combine the ROUNDUP and SUM functions
In the example below, we combine the ROUNDUP and SUM functions to find the sum of the grades of students in two different subjects. This combination of Google Sheets ROUNDUP SUM is useful in different scenarios.
Step 1: Look at the grades below. Now, let’s circle them up to two decimal places.

Step 2: Apply the function =ROUNDUP(A2,1) in cell B2. Press Enter.

Step 3: Now, drag the formula to B5 to round up the English scores.

Step 4: To find the sum of the grades, apply the following formula. Write =SUM(B1:B5) in B6.

Step 5: Now, instead of combining the separately, you can combine them in a single formula to get the result. Apply the following formula to cell D2.
=ARRAYFORMULA(SUM(ROUNDUP(C2:C5,1)))
Here, we use ARRAYFORMULA as we need to combine both the SUM and ROUNDUP functions and get the result in a single formula.
Press Enter and observe the result. You get the result of the grades summed up after being rounded up to one decimal place.

Important Things to Note
- The function ROUND offers a flexible rounding to the specified decimal place, while ROUNDUP is always used to round up, so that the values move away from zero.
- To round a number up to the nearest whole number, you have to set the places parameter (second parameter) to zero when you use the ROUNDUP function.
- Another alternative function to round up is the CEILING function which rounds a number up to the nearest specified multiple.
- INT is another simple function used for rounding a number.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Many applications require a rounding up of numbers.
Data Presentation: When presenting big numbers, rounded numbers are easier to read and understand unless the decimal values significantly affect the result.
Easier calculations: It is easier to perform mathematical operations with rounded numbers than with big decimal numbers.
Resource management: Rounding up numbers when calculating figures for stock or inventory management helps allocate resources effectively.
Google Sheets offers many different functions for rounding up/down values. Let’s look at a few.
ROUND: The ROUND function rounds a number to a certain number of decimal places. However, this is flexible and rounds up when the decimal place is greater than or equal to 5. Otherwise, it rounds down. For instance, 5.7 is rounded up to 6, while 5.4 is rounded down to 5.
ROUNDDOWN: The ROUNDDOWN function rounds down a number to a certain number of decimal places. For instance, 5.7 is rounded down to 5.
FLOOR: It rounds a number down to the nearest integer multiple of the mentioned significance. FLOOR is used with a factor set to a round number, for instance, 0.1 or 0.01, to round to a fixed decimal place. For instance, =FLOOR(1.27, 0.05) gives a result 1.25
CEILING: The CEILING function is the opposite of FLOOR and rounds a number up to the nearest integer multiple of the mentioned significance. Here, =CEILING(1.27, 0.05) gives a result of 1.30.
If you use ROUNDUP with a negative number, the result will be a more negative number. For example, =ROUNDUP(-4.245,0) gives you -5. If you input a negative number for the second argument, the function will round up to the left of the decimal point.
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