EVEN in Excel

When you work in Excel spreadsheets, it’s often useful to round numbers up to the nearest even integer. By using even numbers, you can maintain consistency in a given dataset. Fortunately, Excel has a built-in function to do this quickly. Let’s learn how to use EVEN in Microsoft Excel.

How to Use EVEN in Excel

Even numbers – 2, 4, 6, and so on – are commonly used units when processing a variety of data types. For example, you may be working with items in pairs. Having an odd number won’t work, so it’s useful to round to the nearest even integer value. This is where Excel’s EVEN function comes in.

EVEN is a simple function with one purpose: it rounds a given value up to the nearest even integer value. Let’s look at a few examples to illustrate how it works.

For example, imagine that you have a list of values that you need to round up to the nearest even value. To use the EVEN function, click into any empty cell in your workbook.

Then, type an = sign. This tells Excel that you’re inputting a formula into the cell. Then, type EVEN(. So far, your formula reads:

=EVEN(

Then, click into the cell containing the value that you want to round to an even integer. In this example, the first value is in cell A1. Type ), completing your formula as:

=EVEN(A1)

Hit Enter, and Excel will display the rounded-up even integer value in the cell containing the formula: 4.

From here, you can drag your formula downward to capture the other two values. Notice that -3 rounds up to -4. Also, since 4 is already an even integer, the EVEN function returns the identical value of 4.

As you can see, EVEN in Excel is a quick and powerful way to round numbers to the nearest even integer value.