Round to 2 decimal places

Sample data. Prices in B, the price after 15% off in C (=B2*0.85), rounded in D.

The formula

Click D2 and type:

=ROUND(C2,2)

D2 shows 11.04. Fill it down: the pen becomes 1.27 and the notebook 4.04.

• C2 is the number to round.
• 2 is how many decimal places to keep.

You can round in the same step as the math: =ROUND(B2*0.85,2) gives 11.04 straight from the price.

Rounding is not the same as hiding decimals

The decimal buttons (Decrease Decimal on the Home tab in Excel, "Decrease decimal places" on the Google Sheets toolbar) only change how a number looks. C2 still holds 11.0415, and totals use the full number. Add up column C:

=SUM(C2:C6)

The real total is 19.6435, so with 2 decimals showing it reads 19.64, while the five prices you can see in C add up to 19.65. Total the rounded column instead and it matches:

=SUM(D2:D6)

That gives 19.65. On invoices and price lists, round each line with ROUND first, then add.

Always up or always down

=ROUNDUP(C2,2)

gives 11.05: any extra amount goes up to the next cent. ROUNDDOWN cuts the extra off:

=ROUNDDOWN(C3,2)

turns 1.2665 into 1.26. With negative numbers, ROUNDDOWN in Excel moves toward zero and ROUNDUP away from it: -2.346 becomes -2.34 with ROUNDDOWN and -2.35 with ROUNDUP (ROUND also gives -2.35).

Whole numbers, tens and nickels

The second number can be 0 or negative:

=ROUND(C2,0)

gives 11, and =ROUND(C2,-1) rounds to the nearest ten: 10. To round to the nearest 0.05, for cash prices without pennies, use MROUND:

=MROUND(C2,0.05)

That gives 11.05. For prices that end in .99, round up to the next whole number and take off a cent:

=ROUNDUP(C2,0)-0.01

which gives 11.99.

Show 2 decimals as text

For a label or a sentence, TEXT returns the number with exactly 2 decimals:

=TEXT(C2,"0.00")

That gives 11.04, but as text, so SUM leaves it out. Use ROUND for numbers you calculate with and TEXT for what you join into words:

="Sale price: "&TEXT(C2,"0.00")

gives Sale price: 11.04. ROUND, ROUNDUP, ROUNDDOWN, MROUND and TEXT work in every current version of Excel and in Google Sheets.

Templates with the math already done

Rather skip the formulas? These templates come with every formula built and checked, plus a filled-in sample.