CEILING.PRECISE

Rounds a number upward to the nearest whole number or nearest significant multiple. Positive and negative numbers are both rounded up. If the number or its significance is zero, the function returns zero.

Syntax:

CEILING.PRECISE(number, significance)

number is required, and is what you want to round.

significance is optional, and the multiple used for rounding number. When significance is not specified, it defaults to 1.

Example:

If A1 contains 23.5, and A2 contains 6:

CEILING.PRECISE(A1, A2)

returns 24

If A1 contains -10.6, and A2 contains 12:

CEILING.PRECISE(A1, A2)

returns 0

Number:

Significance:

Result:

24

Application:

Inventory Management and Packaging

Scenario: A company manufactures a product that needs to be packaged in boxes. Each box can hold a maximum of 12 units of the product. The production line produces varying numbers of units each day. The company wants to calculate how many boxes they need to order from their supplier to package all the units produced, and they want to ensure they always have enough boxes, even if some units are left over.

The Problem: If they produce 30 units, they can fill two boxes completely (24 units), but they'll have 6 units left over. To package those remaining 6 units, they need a third box. This is where the CEILING.PRECISE function is useful. It always rounds up to the nearest multiple of a given significance, regardless of whether the number is positive or negative, ensuring they always have enough boxes.

The columns would be:

Daily Production (Units): The number of units produced on a given day.
Units per Box: The capacity of each box (12 units).
Boxes Required: The number of boxes needed, calculated using the CEILING.PRECISE function.

Table:

	Daily Production (Units)	Units per Box	Formula	Boxes Required
	A	B	C	D
1	30	12	CEILING.PRECISE(A1, B1)/12	3
2	120	12	CEILING.PRECISE(A2, B2)/12	10
3	5	12	CEILING.PRECISE(A3, B3)/12	1
4	13	12	CEILING.PRECISE(A4, B4)/12	2
5	-20*	12	CEILING.PRECISE(A5, B5)/12	-1*

*Note on negative numbers: While a production run wouldn't realistically be negative, CEILING.PRECISE handles it consistently. It rounds towards positive infinity for positive numbers and towards negative infinity for negative numbers (e.g., -20, with a significance of 12, rounds to -12, which is a multiple of 12). In this specific scenario, a negative number would likely be an error, but the function's consistent behavior is what makes it "precise."

Explanation of the Results:

For 30 units: The formula CEILING.PRECISE(30, 12) calculates the smallest multiple of 12 that is greater than or equal to 30. That number is 36, and since 36 / 12 = 3, the company needs 3 boxes.
For 120 units: This is a perfect multiple of 12, so the function returns 120, which divided by 12 is 10. They need exactly 10 boxes.
For 5 units: Even though this is a very small number, they still need one full box to package those 5 units. CEILING.PRECISE(5, 12) rounds up to 12, which means 1 box is needed.
For 13 units: The function rounds up to the next multiple of 12, which is 24. They need 2 boxes.

Conclusion:

The CEILING.PRECISE function is ideal for this type of inventory problem because it guarantees that the company will always have a sufficient number of boxes to package all of its products by rounding up to the nearest multiple of the box capacity.