How to use the FLOOR.PRECISE function

What is the FLOOR.PRECISE function?

The FLOOR.PRECISE function rounds a number down to the nearest integer or nearest multiple of significance.

1. Introduction

What is nearest multiple of significance?

The nearest multiple of significance means to the closest number that a value gets rounded to for a given level of precision. It is based on the number of significant figures or decimal places desired.

For a certain precision, it is the nearest multiple of a power of 10.
For 2 significant figs, nearest multiples are 10, 100, 1000, etc.
For 3 decimal places, nearest multiples are 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, etc.

Values get rounded to the closest multiple of significance at the desired precision. So if reporting to 2 significant figures, 4874 would round to 4900, since the nearest multiple of significance is 100 at that precision.

If reporting to 3 decimal places, 15.4732 would round to 15.473, since the nearest multiple is 0.001. This helps keep rounding consistent and at an appropriate level of precision when doing math calculations and measurements.

What is an integer?

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

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

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.
FLOOR.MATH	Rounds a number down to the nearest integer or to the nearest multiple of significance.
FLOOR.PRECISE	Rounds a number down to the nearest integer or to the nearest multiple of significance.

2. Syntax

FLOOR.PRECISE(number, [significance])

number	Required.
[significance]	Optional, the number is rounded down to the given multiple. The default value is 1.

The sign of the number does not determine if the number is rounded down, see image above.

The FLOOR.PRECISE function returns 0 (zero) if number or [significance] is zero.

3. Example 1

This example shows how to use the FLOOR.PRECISE function. The image shows the number to round down to its nearest multiple of significance in column B, the significance argument in column C. The result is shown in column E.

The first number in cell B3 is -5.4. The arguments are:

• number - B3 (a cell reference to the value we want to round)
• [significance] - C3 (a cell reference to the multiple of significance)

Formula in cell F3:

Cell E3 returns -6 based on -5.4 and -1 as the multiple of significance. -6 is the nearest multiple of significance rounded down.

The next number I want to talk about is in cell B6 which contains -5.4. The arguments are:

• number - B6 (a cell reference to the value we want to round)
• [significance] - C6 (a cell reference to the multiple of significance)

Formula in cell E6:

Cell E6 returns -6 based on -5.4 and 1 as the multiple of significance. -6 is the nearest multiple of significance rounded down.

The next number I want to talk about is in cell B9 which contains 5.4. The arguments are:

• number - B9 (a cell reference to the value we want to round)
• [significance] - C9 (a cell reference to the multiple of significance)

Formula in cell E9:

Cell E6 returns 5 based on 5.4 and 1 as the multiple of significance. 5 is the nearest multiple of significance rounded down.

4. Example 2

A right triangle has an area equal to the square root of 78 square units. If the length of this rectangle is 6 units, what is its width? Round the number down to an multiple of significance of 0.2 using the MATH.PRECISE function.

Lets begin calculating the width of the right angled triangle. The area is the size of the surface enclosed by the triangle expressed in square units like square meters, square feet, etc. Width is the measure of one of the sides of the rectangle perpendicular to the other side specified to 6 units.

The units used for length and width must be the same and the area will be expressed in square units of those same units.

Area  = length * width / 2
Area = square root of 78
height = 6

width = 2 * area / length
width = 2* √78 / 6

FLOOR.PRECISE arguments:
number = 78^0.5 / 6
significance = 0.2

Formula in cell C21:

√78 / 6 = 2.94392028877595 and the FLOOR.PRECISE function converts it to 2.94 units which represents the width of the triangle displayed in the image above.

The image above shows the right triangle with one side equal to 6 and the other side named width is not known indicated by the question mark. A right triangle has one angle equal to 90 degrees, the area is √78 units.

5. Function not working

The FLOOR.PRECISE function returns

• #VALUE! error if you use a non-numeric input value.
• #NAME? error if you misspell the function name.
• propagates errors, meaning that if the input contains an error (e.g., #VALUE!, #REF!), the function will return the same error.

5.1 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.

5.2 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 FLOOR.PRECISE 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

5.3 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 FLOOR.PRECISE function function is one of 62 functions in the 'Math and trigonometry' category.

Excel function categories

Excel categories

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