Yes, it is supremely basic, as you expected.
The reason that 74.45 rounds to 74 is that it is nearer to 74 than to 75.

The formatting to show only one decimal place doesn't affect the number
stored (unless you select "precision as displayed" in your calculation
options).

If you particularly want to round to one place and then round again to zero
places, then you could use =ROUND(ROUND(A1,1),0) , but it would be a pretty
perverse thing to do.
--
David Biddulph

"Martina" wrote in message
...
Hi,
You do not realise my trepidation in asking this question for fear it is
supremely basic. Here goes...

If I ask Excel to ROUND(A1,0) , and 74.45 is in cell A1, why does it not
round to 75.0?

I have a grade that only kicks in at 75%(B grade). A student who gets
74.45% will not be awarded this grade but the one below. The cell is
formatted to show as 74.5, and it does not show up as a B but a C.

74.45, 74.46, 74.47, 74.48, 74.49 will all return 74 after ROUND(A1,0).
Intuitively I understand that the nearest whole number to 74.45 is 74, but
if you round 74.45 to 74.5 then it becomes 75 ... doesn't it :|

Please help
Martina