A COMPUTEREASE Tip!

We will periodically post a new tip, about once a month or faster. So if the one below is not applicable to your software, be sure to drop by soon.

If you have a suggestion you'd like to share with others or you need a tip on a software application, drop me an e-mail.

Rounding in Electronic Spreadsheets

For example, you decide to give 3 kids $10.00. You will have a conflict, for 2 kids receive equal amounts, $3.33; but one kid gets $3.34. Unless, of course, you pocket the extra penny...

A computer would calculate each person's share to be 3.3333333 (and so on). When totalled, a computer would yield 9.99999. That's a big problem if you are dealing with company financials.

Electronic spreadsheets include a ROUND function to accommodate for these scenarios. Using formatting or styles is not sufficient! You only need worry about this in a spreadsheet if you have division, percentages, averages, etc.

The ROUND function truly rounds the value or calculation to the number of decimals specified. Again, formatting does not do this.

    ROUND(number_to_be_rounded,maximum_number_of_decimals)

	Excel	1-2-3 or Quattro Pro	incorrect
pre-tax amount	29.95 in cell A1	29.95 in cell A1	29.95
PST tax	=A1*8%	+A1*.08	2.396
GST tax	=A1*7%	+A1*.07	2.0965
amount tendered	=SUM(A1:A3)	@SUM(A1..A3)	34.4425

	Excel	1-2-3 or Quattro Pro	corrected
pre-tax amount	29.95 in cell A1	29.95 in cell A1	29.95
PST tax	=ROUND(A1*8%,2)	@ROUND(A1*.08,2)	2.4
GST tax	=ROUND(A1*7%,2)	@ROUND(A1*.07,2)	2.1
amount tendered	=SUM(A1:A3)	@SUM(A1..A3)	34.45

Old Tips

• Handling Variant Resource Costs in Microsoft Project 4.0/7.0

Last updated: 29 January 1996

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