When working with numbers you may have to deal with decimal numbers. To make the work neat and presentable then you need to limit the decimal places. This way all your data will have the same decimal places.
Depending on what you want to achieve and the accuracy, there are many ways to limit decimal places. Read to the end to find the perfect method for your spreadsheet.
Method 1: Format Cells
1. Select the cell or range of cells you want to format
2. Right-click and choose “Format Cells” from the context menu or press Ctrl + 1.
3. In the “Format Cells” dialog box, go to the “Number” tab.
4. In the “Category” list, select “Number.”
5. In the “Decimal places” field, enter the number of decimal places you want to display.
6. Click “OK” to apply the formatting.
As you can see from the image above the decimals have been limited to 3.
Method 2: Increase/Decrease Decimal Places
You can also quickly increase or decrease the decimal places for a cell without opening the Format Cells dialog:
1. Select the cell with the number you want to format.
2. Use the buttons in the “Number” group on the Home tab:
3. Increase Decimal: Increases the number of decimal places.
4. Decrease Decimal: Decreases the number of decimal places
Method 3: Custom Number Formatting
You can create custom number formats to control how numbers are displayed. For example, if you want to display a number with only two decimal places, you can use a custom format like “0.00”.
1. Select the cell or range of cells.
2. Right-click and choose “Format Cells” or press Ctrl + 1.
3. In the “Format Cells” dialog box, go to the “Number” tab.
4. In the “Category” list, select “Custom.”
5. In the “Type” field, enter your custom number format (e.g., “0.00”).
6. Click “OK” to apply the custom formatting.
Method 4: ROUND Function
If you want to limit the number of decimal places for calculations without changing the original data, you can use the ROUND function. For example, if you have a number in cell A1 that you want to round to two decimal places, you can enter the following formula in another cell:
=ROUND(A1, 2)
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How to limit decimal places in Excel without rounding?
To limit decimal places in Excel without rounding, you can use the “Number” formatting options. Here’s how:
- Select the cell or range of cells you want to format.
- Right-click and choose “Format Cells.”
- In the “Number” tab, select the “Number” category.
- In the “Decimal places” field, specify the number of decimal places you want to display without rounding. For example, if you want to display up to 2 decimal places, enter “2.”
- Click “OK.”
2. How to get Excel to only round to 2 decimal places?
To round numbers to 2 decimal places in Excel, you can use the ROUND function. Here’s an example:
=ROUND(A1, 2) This formula will round the number in cell A1 to two decimal places.
3. How to get Excel to only round to 2 decimal places without rounding?
To get Excel to only display numbers to 2 decimal places without rounding, you can use the formatting options mentioned in answer 1. When you set the number of decimal places to 2 in the formatting options, Excel will truncate any additional decimal places without rounding.
4. What is the decimal precision limit in Excel?
The decimal precision limit in Excel depends on the version you’re using. In Excel 2013 and later, the maximum number of decimal places that Excel can display is 15. However, the actual precision depends on the data type. Excel uses a double-precision floating-point format, which can represent numbers with up to 15-17 decimal places, but not all of those decimal places will be displayed.
5. What is the formula for decimals in Excel?
There isn’t a specific “formula for decimals” in Excel, as Excel handles decimal numbers like any other number. However, you can format how decimals are displayed using the formatting options or round numbers to a specific decimal place using functions like ROUND, ROUNDUP, or ROUNDDOWN. The formula for rounding to 2 decimal places, as mentioned in answer 2, is “=ROUND(A1, 2),” where A1 is the cell containing the number you want to round.