How to use the FIXED function

What is the FIXED function?

The FIXED function rounds a number to the specified number of decimals, formats the number in decimal format using a period and commas, and returns the result as text.

1. Introduction

How to round numbers?

Rounding is a method to simplify a number by reducing its digits while keeping its approximate value close to the original value.

There are a few common ways to round:

• Round to a set number of decimal places, rounding 2.13579 to 2 decimal places gives 2.14.
• Round up or down to the nearest integer, rounding up 2.3 gives 3. Rounding down 2.3 gives 2.
• Round to a set increment, rounding to the nearest 10 rounds 17 to 20.
• Round to significant figures, rounding 2.333 to 3 significant figures gives 2.33.

When rounding, look at the first digit after where you want to round. If it's 5 or more, round up. If less than 5, round down. Rounding makes numbers cleaner and easier to work with in many everyday situations, however, they may also cause rounding errors like rounded values can compound errors. Rounding measurements and constants may reduces precision. It is better to round numbers after performing calculations than before.

What is a decimal place?

A decimal place refers to each position held by a digit in a number. The first decimal place is the tenths place (1/10), the second is the hundreds place (1/100) and so on.

What is a comma?

Commas are frequently used in large numbers to help read and interpret the values easier. Commas separate thousands place values in large numbers. For example:

• 10,000 - ten thousand
• 100,000 - one hundred thousand
• 1,000,000 - one million

The comma creates groups of three digits, making it easier to count the zeroes and understand the scale.
In decimal numbers with both whole and fractional parts, commas separate the whole number groups of three digits. For example:

• 3,421.256
• 102,734,221.985

The third argument [no_commas] determines if commas will be displayed or not. The image above shows the difference in cells C3 and C4.

What is an integer?

An integer is a whole number that can be positive, negative, or zero, but not a fraction or decimal.

What other Excel functions round numbers?

ROUND	Rounds a number to a specified number of digits
ROUNDUP	Rounds a number up, away from zero
ROUNDDOWN	Rounds a number down, towards zero
MROUND	Rounds a number to the nearest multiple of a specified value
CEILING	Rounds a number up to its nearest multiple.
ODD	Returns number rounded up to the nearest odd integer.
EVEN	Rounds a number up to the nearest even whole number.
FIXED	Rounds a number to the specified number of decimals, lets you ignore comma separators.

2. Syntax

FIXED(number, [decimals], [no_commas])

number	Required. The number you want to round and convert to text.
[decimals]	Optional. The number of digits to the right of the decimal point. Negative numbers to the left of the decimal point.
[no_commas]	Optional.  Default value is FALSE. TRUE returns no commas in text string.

3. Example 1

This example demonstrates how the FIXED function works, the image above shows the arguments in cells B3:B4 and the results in cells C3:C4. Column D displays the formulas used.

The first number in cell B3 is 34.721. The arguments in cell C3 are:

• number - B3 (a cell reference to the value we want to round)
• [decimals] - 1 (the number of decimals we want to round to)

Formula in cell C3:

The result in cell C3 is 34.7. Value 34.721 is rounded to 34.7 based on 1 decimal.

The second number in cell B4 is -15631.053. The arguments in cell C4 are:

• number: B3 (a cell reference to the value we want to round)
• [decimals]: -2 (the number of decimals we want to round to)
• [no_commas]: default:FALSE if omitted (show commas in text string)

Note that the [decimals] argument is a negative integer meaning the numerical value is rounded to the specified number left of the decimal point.

Formula in cell C4:

The formula in cell C4 returns -15,600 which is the rounded values to the nearest hundred based on this numerical value: -15631.053 Two decimals to the left rounds the number to the nearest hundred.

4. Example 2

The opposite side in a right triangle is 4.5 units, the adjacent side has equal length. What is the hypotenuse with three decimals?

Pythagoras theorem which states that the squared hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squared opposite side (a) and the adjacent side (b).

c² = a² + b²
b = 4.5
a = 4.5

c² = 4.5² + 4.5²
c² = 20.25 +20.25
c = √40.50
c = 6.36396103067893

Formula in cell C18:

The formula in cell C18 calculates the length of the hypotenuse.

Arguments:

• number: (4.5^2+4.5^2)^0.5
• [decimals]: 3
• [no_commas]: default:FALSE if omitted (show commas in text string)

Formula in cell C20:

The formula in cell C20 returns 6.364 which is the rounded values with three decimals based on this numerical value: 6.36396103067893

The chart above displays a right triangle with the length of the opposite side equal to 4.5 and the adjacent side equal to 4.5 as well. The hypotenuse named c is the value we need to calculate.

5. Example 3

A bacterial colony starts with 1000 cells and the population doubles every hour. What will be the population after 5.5 hours, round the number to two decimals?

The formula for exponential growth is:
A = P * (1 + r)^t

Where:

• A = Final amount or population after a certain time
• P = Initial amount or population (starting value)
• r = Growth rate (per unit of time)
• t = Time elapsed (in the same units as the growth rate)

The POWER function allows us to calculate exponential growth in Excel, there is also the caret character ^ that also works in Excel formulas.

The POWER function calculates a number raised to a power.

Function syntax: POWER(number, power)

Here are the arguments to the FIXED function:

• number: 1000*POWER(2,5.5)
• [decimals]: 2
• [no_commas]: TRUE (This prevents commas in the output string)

Formula in cell C21:

The formula in cell C21 returns 45254.83 which represents the bacteria population after 5.5 hours with an initial population of 1000.

Explaining the formula

Step 1 - Model the math formula

Population = start * k^x

start - initial population
k - growth
x - hours

Step 2 - Evaluate math formula

1000*POWER(2,5.5)

becomes 1000 * 45.254833995939

and returns 45254.833995939

Step 3 - Round the nearest specified decimals

FIXED(1000*POWER(2,5.5),2,TRUE)

becomes

FIXED(45254.833995939,2,TRUE)

and returns 45254.83

6. Function not working

• The FIXED function returns a #VALUE! error if the argument is a text string.
• It propagates error values and returns the same error value.
• A #NAME? error is displayed if you misspell the function name.

6.1 Troubleshooting the error value

When you encounter an error value in a cell a warning symbol appears, displayed in the image above. Press with mouse on it to see a pop-up menu that lets you get more information about the error.

1. The first line describes the error if you press with left mouse button on it.
2. The second line opens a pane that explains the error in greater detail.
3. The third line takes you to the "Evaluate Formula" tool, a dialog box appears allowing you to examine the formula in greater detail.
4. This line lets you ignore the error value meaning the warning icon disappears, however, the error is still in the cell.
5. The fifth line lets you edit the formula in the Formula bar.
6. The sixth line opens the Excel settings so you can adjust the Error Checking Options.

Here are a few of the most common Excel errors you may encounter.

#NULL error - This error occurs most often if you by mistake use a space character in a formula where it shouldn't be. Excel interprets a space character as an intersection operator. If the ranges don't intersect an #NULL error is returned. The #NULL! error occurs when a formula attempts to calculate the intersection of two ranges that do not actually intersect. This can happen when the wrong range operator is used in the formula, or when the intersection operator (represented by a space character) is used between two ranges that do not overlap. To fix this error double check that the ranges referenced in the formula that use the intersection operator actually have cells in common.

#SPILL error - The #SPILL! error occurs only in version Excel 365 and is caused by a dynamic array being to large, meaning there are cells below and/or to the right that are not empty. This prevents the dynamic array formula expanding into new empty cells.

#DIV/0 error - This error happens if you try to divide a number by 0 (zero) or a value that equates to zero which is not possible mathematically.

#VALUE error - The #VALUE error occurs when a formula has a value that is of the wrong data type. Such as text where a number is expected or when dates are evaluated as text.

#REF error - The #REF error happens when a cell reference is invalid. This can happen if a cell is deleted that is referenced by a formula.

#NAME error - The #NAME error happens if you misspelled a function or a named range.

#NUM error - The #NUM error shows up when you try to use invalid numeric values in formulas, like square root of a negative number.

#N/A error - The #N/A error happens when a value is not available for a formula or found in a given cell range, for example in the VLOOKUP or MATCH functions.

#GETTING_DATA error - The #GETTING_DATA error shows while external sources are loading, this can indicate a delay in fetching the data or that the external source is unavailable right now.

6.2 The formula returns an unexpected value

To understand why a formula returns an unexpected value we need to examine the calculations steps in detail. Luckily, Excel has a tool that is really handy in these situations. Here is how to troubleshoot a formula:

1. Select the cell containing the formula you want to examine in detail.
2. Go to tab “Formulas” on the ribbon.
3. Press with left mouse button on "Evaluate Formula" button. A dialog box appears.
   The formula appears in a white field inside the dialog box. Underlined expressions are calculations being processed in the next step. The italicized expression is the most recent result. The buttons at the bottom of the dialog box allows you to evaluate the formula in smaller calculations which you control.
4. Press with left mouse button on the "Evaluate" button located at the bottom of the dialog box to process the underlined expression.
5. Repeat pressing the "Evaluate" button until you have seen all calculations step by step. This allows you to examine the formula in greater detail and hopefully find the culprit.
6. Press "Close" button to dismiss the dialog box.

There is also another way to debug formulas using the function key F9. F9 is especially useful if you have a feeling that a specific part of the formula is the issue, this makes it faster than the "Evaluate Formula" tool since you don't need to go through all calculations to find the issue..

1. Enter Edit mode: Double-press with left mouse button on the cell or press F2 to enter Edit mode for the formula.
2. Select part of the formula: Highlight the specific part of the formula you want to evaluate. You can select and evaluate any part of the formula that could work as a standalone formula.
3. Press F9: This will calculate and display the result of just that selected portion.
4. Evaluate step-by-step: You can select and evaluate different parts of the formula to see intermediate results.
5. Check for errors: This allows you to pinpoint which part of a complex formula may be causing an error.

The image above shows cell reference B3 converted to hard-coded value using the F9 key. The FIXED function requires numerical values which is not the case in this example. We have found what is wrong with the formula.

Tips!

• View actual values: Selecting a cell reference and pressing F9 will show the actual values in those cells.
• Exit safely: Press Esc to exit Edit mode without changing the formula. Don't press Enter, as that would replace the formula part with the calculated value.
• Full recalculation: Pressing F9 outside of Edit mode will recalculate all formulas in the workbook.

Remember to be careful not to accidentally overwrite parts of your formula when using F9. Always exit with Esc rather than Enter to preserve the original formula. However, if you make a mistake overwriting the formula it is not the end of the world. You can “undo” the action by pressing keyboard shortcut keys CTRL + z or pressing the “Undo” button

6.3 Other errors

Floating-point arithmetic may give inaccurate results in Excel - Article

Floating-point errors are usually very small, often beyond the 15th decimal place, and in most cases don't affect calculations significantly.

Functions in 'Math and trigonometry' category

The FIXED function function is one of 62 functions in the 'Math and trigonometry' category.

Excel function categories

Excel categories

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