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CEILING Function (LibreOffice Calc)

Math Intermediate LibreOffice Calc Introduction not established

The CEILING function in LibreOffice Calc rounds a number up to the nearest multiple of a specified significance. Learn syntax, examples, common errors, and best practices.

Verification status: Consult the documentation, examples and any stated test scope below. How formula examples are checked

Availability and version history

  • Introduced: Documented by LibreOffice 26.8.1.1; original introduction not established.
  • Availability: Supported in LibreOffice 26.8.1.1, verified against its function registry. This identifies a supported release, not a final working version.
  • Scope: Desktop Calc, using the English function name. Availability in other spreadsheet applications is separate.
  • Checked: 2026-10-14 — function reference; versioned support. Documentation/source check; not a new native test. Existing example-specific test claims below retain their stated scope.
The **CEILING** function rounds a number up to the nearest multiple of a specified significance in LibreOffice Calc. Unlike `ROUNDUP`, which rounds away from zero, `CEILING` rounds **toward positive infinity**, making it ideal for pricing, capacity planning, scheduling, and any scenario requiring rounding up to a specific increment.

What the CEILING Function Does

  • Rounds a number up to the nearest multiple of a significance
  • Works with positive and negative numbers
  • Supports fractional and whole-number significance values
  • Useful for pricing, scheduling, and interval-based calculations
  • Works with cell references, formulas, and expressions

It is designed to be precise, predictable, and universally compatible.

Syntax

CEILING(number; significance)

Arguments

  • number:
    The numeric value to round up.

  • significance:
    The multiple to round up to.
    Examples:

    • 1 → nearest whole number
    • 0.5 → nearest half
    • 10 → nearest ten
    • 0.01 → nearest cent

Basic Examples

Round up to nearest whole number

=CEILING(5.1; 1)

Returns 6.

Round up to nearest 0.5

=CEILING(5.1; 0.5)

Returns 5.5.

Round up to nearest 10

=CEILING(123; 10)

Returns 130.

CEILING with a cell reference

=CEILING(A1; 0.25)

Rounds A1 up to the nearest quarter.

Advanced Examples

CEILING with negative numbers

=CEILING(-5.2; 1)

Returns -5.

CEILING with fractional significance

=CEILING(7.34; 0.1)

Returns 7.4.

CEILING for pricing

=CEILING(A1; 0.05)

Rounds prices up to the nearest 5 cents.

CEILING for scheduling

=CEILING(A1; 0.25)

Rounds time up to the nearest 15 minutes.

CEILING for binning/grouping

=CEILING(A1; 10)

Groups values upward into buckets of 10.

CEILING vs ROUNDUP comparison

=CEILING(A1; 1)

Equivalent to ROUNDUP(A1; 0) for positive numbers.

Common Errors and Fixes

CEILING returns unexpected results with negative numbers

Cause:

  • CEILING always rounds toward positive infinity, not away from zero.

Example:
CEILING(-5.2; 1) → -5

CEILING returns Err:502

Occurs when:

  • significance is zero
  • significance has a different sign than number
  • number or significance is non-numeric

Fix:
Ensure both values are numeric and have compatible signs.

CEILING returns 0 unexpectedly

Possible causes:

  • significance is larger than the number
  • number is between -significance and significance
  • number is stored as text

Fix:
Convert text to numbers using:
Data → Text to Columns → OK

Best Practices

  • Use CEILING when rounding must always go upward
  • Use FLOOR when rounding must always go downward
  • Use ROUND for standard rounding
  • Use ROUNDUP for rounding away from zero
  • Use CEILING for pricing, scheduling, and capacity planning
CEILING is ideal for “round up to nearest increment” tasks such as packaging, logistics, time rounding, and pricing.
  • Use FLOOR to round down to a significance
  • Use ROUND, ROUNDUP, or ROUNDDOWN for decimal rounding
  • Use INT for rounding down to the nearest integer
  • Use TRUNC to remove decimals without rounding
  • Use MOD with CEILING for bucket indexing

By mastering CEILING and its combinations with other math functions, you can build precise, significance-based numeric models in LibreOffice Calc that behave consistently across all data scenarios.

Reproducible example (tested in LibreOffice Calc)

This standalone example was calculated in LibreOffice Calc 25.2.3.2 and matched the expected value. It is a practical cross-check of one usage, not proof that every example elsewhere on this page is correct.

=CEILING(13;5)

Expected result: 15.

Round a quantity up to the next multiple of five.

If the result differs, check the referenced cells, argument separators and number formatting. For more information, consult the LibreOffice Calc official help.