How to Use FLOOR Function in Excel? 2 Easy Ways

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(Note: This guide on how to use FLOOR function in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365)

Excel has a variety of functions that can be used for mathematical calculations or statistical purposes. 

Consider an example where an Excel spreadsheet contains the data of a population after certain calculations. The acquired data is in the form of decimals. To depict data such as population or count, it is better to have the decimal data rounded up and depicted as a whole number. In such cases, you can use the FLOOR function.

In this article, I will tell you how to use the FLOOR function in Excel in 2 easy ways.

You’ll Learn:

• What is FLOOR Function in Excel?
• Syntax
• How to Use FLOOR Function in Excel?
  • Enter the Formula
  • Select From the Formulas List
• How Does the FLOOR Function Work?
• Other Use Cases 
• Points to Remember

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What is FLOOR Function in Excel?

The FLOOR function is a part of the Math & Trigonometric set of functions and it appears with the function name FLOOR.MATH. 

The FLOOR function is very similar to the ROUNDDOWN function. Whereas, the ROUNDDOWN function rounds down the value to its nearest significant digits, the FLOOR function rounds down the number to its nearest multiple of significance. 

Syntax

In previous versions of Excel, the syntax of the FLOOR function was:

=FLOOR(number,significance)

Where, 

number is a mandatory field and represents the numerical value to be rounded. It can take any numerical constant or a variable such as a cell name that points to the value. 

significance is also a mandatory field and denotes the multiples to which you want to round. It can also take any constant numerical value or a variable such as a cell name.

In newer versions of Excel, it is replaced by FLOOR.MATH function with the same arguments and similar properties with one additional optional argument, mode. The mode argument denotes that, when given a non-zero value, the number will be rounded toward zero. However, the FLOOR function is still available in Microsoft Excel for backward compatibility purposes.  

How to Use FLOOR Function in Excel?

There are two ways you can use the FLOOR function in Excel. You can either directly enter the formula into the destination cell or you can choose the formula from the set of formulas. 

Enter the Formula

One method to use the FLOOR function is by entering the formula in the destination cell. 

• To use the function, first, choose a destination cell. 

• Enter the formula =FLOOR in the destination cell.

• Once you enter, you can see two formulas with different syntaxes. You can choose either of them using the arrow keys and by pressing the Tab key. Or, you can also select the function by double-clicking on the desired function. 

• Then, pass the arguments separated by a comma. You can either pass the arguments as a constant or variables. In this case, we have passed the arguments as the cell name which contains the values.

• Finally, press Enter.

• This gives you the required floored value. 

Select From the Formulas List

Another way to use the FLOOR function is by selecting the formula from the Formulas main menu. 

• First, select a destination cell.

• Navigate to the Formulas main menu ribbon, and click on the drop-down from the Math&Trig functions. Scroll down and select the FLOOR.MATH function.

Note: When selecting the FLOOR function from the Formulas menu, you cannot find the FLOOR function and can only select the FLOOR.MATH function. 

• This in turn opens the Function Arguments dialog box. You can enter the corresponding values in the place of arguments and click OK.

• This gives you the resultant value in the destination cell.

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How Does the FLOOR Function Work?

The FLOOR function works by rounding down the numerical value to the corresponding significant digits. 

Let us consider the above example, where the number value is 15 and its significance is 2. 

The multiples of 2 are 2, 4, 6, 8,10, 12, 14, 16, and so on. Here, the value 15 lies between 14 and 16 (which are multiples of 2). Since the FLOOR function rounds down the value, it chooses the smallest value 14 and returns the value. 

Other Use Cases 

Let us now see some other cases of using the FLOOR function.

• Consider, the number argument is 4.7, which is a decimal value and the significance is 2. The multiples of 2 are 2, 4, and 6… and the number value 4.7 lies between 4 and 6.  When you use the FLOOR function, the function picks the value 4 which is the near lowest value to the specified number.

• When the number argument and the significant digit are both negative values, the FLOOR function in Excel returns the number nearest to zero. In the case where the number value is -4.5 and the significance is -3, the FLOOR function returns the value -3. This is because the multiples of -3 are in the order of -9, -6, -3, 0, and -4.5 and lies between -6 and -3, the FLOOR function picks the value closest to zero.

• When the number is a negative value and significance is a positive value, the FLOOR function returns the near greatest value to the number. Consider the number is -4.5 and the significance is 3. The multiples of 3 including the negative numbers will be -9, -6, -3, 0, 3, 6, 9… Since -4.5 lies between -6 and -3 of which -6 is the lowest value, the FLOOR function returns the value -6. 

• If the number value is a positive value and the significance is a negative value, the FLOOR function returns an error. In the case where the number value is 4.5 and the significance is -3, the FLOOR function returns #NUM! error, since 4.5 does not fall in the range of negative multiples of 3.

• Consider the example, where the number value is 2.38 and the significance is 0.1. The floor value becomes 2.3, as that number is the nearest multiple of 0.1. 

Points to Remember

• When either the number or significance argument is a non-numerical value, the FLOOR function returns a #VALUE! error. 
• If the number argument is positive and the significant value is negative, the function returns a #NUM! error.
• If the number value is an exact multiple of significance, no rounding occurs. 
• If the number argument is positive, the FLOOR value is rounded down toward zero. In case the number argument is positive, the FLOOR value is rounded away from zero.
• The greater the significance, the greater will be the difference between the floored values and the number value. 

Also Read:

How to Graph a Function in Excel? 2 Easy Ways

How to Use the ROUND Function in Excel?

How to Use the Excel IFS Function? – 2 Easy Examples

Frequently Asked Questions

Closing Thoughts

Rounding down a number to the multiples of the significant digits can be used in a variety of places. In this article, we saw how to use FLOOR function in Excel. We also saw 2 different ways to use the function along with its use cases. 

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Simon Sez IT has been teaching Excel and other business software for over ten years. For a low, monthly fee you can get access to 140+ IT training courses.

Simon Calder

Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!