An Inquirey on the Round function
Couldnt find the answer with extensive searches:
Does the Round function round the number of significant digits stored in a cell, or does it round the number displayed? I believe it to be the latter, but need confirmation. Thank you. |
An Inquirey on the Round function
The result of the round function only has as many significant digits as
specified in the function. Demo: enter 4.52 in cell B5, =round(b5,1) in cell c5. In B6, =b5*100. In c6, =c5*100. The round function hasn't changed the value in its precendent cell (b5), but only has one significant digit in its result in c5. "PA" wrote: Couldnt find the answer with extensive searches: Does the Round function round the number of significant digits stored in a cell, or does it round the number displayed? I believe it to be the latter, but need confirmation. Thank you. |
An Inquirey on the Round function
It truncates the 'actual' value, formatting truncates the display only
-- HTH Nick Hodge Microsoft MVP - Excel Southampton, England www.nickhodge.co.uk HIS "PA" wrote in message ... Couldnt find the answer with extensive searches: Does the Round function round the number of significant digits stored in a cell, or does it round the number displayed? I believe it to be the latter, but need confirmation. Thank you. |
An Inquirey on the Round function
"PA" wrote:
Does the Round function round the number of significant digits stored in a cell, or does it round the number displayed? I believe it to be the latter, but need confirmation. How did you arrive that (wrong) conclusion? The answer is: ROUND() rounds the actual value in the cell, not the displayed value. You can convince yourself by conducting the following experiment. Enter 4.49 into A1 formatted as Number with 1 decimal place. It displays as 4.5. In A2, enter =ROUND(A1,0). If you are right, A2 should be 5. If I am right, A2 should be (and is!) 4. Of course, if you had entered =ROUND(4.49,1) into A1 in the first place, the displayed value and "the number of significant digits stored in a cell" are the same (4.5), and A2 will be 5. Excel has no memory of the precision of an expression before applying the (last) function, which in the case of ROUND() changes the precision. Perhaps that is where you confusion arises. |
An Inquirey on the Round function
Can an old academic have a good moan?
The round function (and formatting) alter the 'number of decimal places' NOT the 'number of significant digits'. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figure to learn what SIG FIG is all about. The number 12.12345 has 7 sig digits while 0.00001 has only 1; both have 5 decimal places. -- Bernard V Liengme www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme remove caps from email "PA" wrote in message ... Couldnt find the answer with extensive searches: Does the Round function round the number of significant digits stored in a cell, or does it round the number displayed? I believe it to be the latter, but need confirmation. Thank you. |
An Inquirey on the Round function
Bernard Liengme wrote:
Can an old academic have a good moan? The round function (and formatting) alter the 'number of decimal places' NOT the 'number of significant digits'. And while we are nitpicking, I hasten to point out that the ROUND() function does not "truncate". It, ah, rounds. ROUND(4.45,1) is 4.5. TRUNC(4.45,1) is 4.4. Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:32:12 -0000 Subject: An Inquirey on the Round function It truncates the 'actual' value, formatting truncates the display only [....] Nick Hodge Microsoft MVP - Excel |
All times are GMT +1. The time now is 02:03 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
ExcelBanter.com