CEILING to buy whole packs
You need 130 screws; they come in boxes of 50. What does that cost?
Task:
Materials come in fixed pack sizes. In E2:E6 give the cost of each line: enough whole packs to cover the quantity needed, times the price per pack.
Interactive Spreadsheet
Hints
+5 XPno-hints bonusSolve it on your own to keep the bonus. Each hint gets one step closer to the formula.
Variations of CEILING, FLOOR
0/4The same formula in the other shapes it takes at work.
- CEILING and FLOOR Functions
Round numbers up or down to specific multiples.
CoreIntermediate - FLOOR to the quarter hour
The multiple can be a fraction: bill time in completed quarter hours.
Intermediate - CEILING for a .99 price ending
Round up to the next whole unit, then take a penny off.
Intermediate - CEILING to buy whole packs
You need 130 screws; they come in boxes of 50. What does that cost?
Advanced
The data in this exercise
This is the grid you start with. Cell references in the task — B6, C2 — point at the row numbers and column letters below.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Material | Needed | Pack size | Price per pack | Cost |
| 2 | Screws | 130 | 50 | 6.5 | |
| 3 | Tiles | 48 | 12 | 22 | |
| 4 | Grout (kg) | 7 | 5 | 9.75 | |
| 5 | Spacers | 300 | 250 | 3.2 | |
| 6 | Sealant | 2 | 1 | 7.4 |
What this exercise teachesMay contain the answer
Costing 130 screws as 130 × (6.50 ÷ 50) prices 2.6 boxes, which no shop will sell you. Rounding the pack count up first gives what you will actually pay — and the gap between the two is the waste worth knowing about.