Using the INT Worksheet Function

There are many times that you simply need to work with whole numbers. Excel provides a handy function, INT, for just such times. This function takes a single argument and returns the integer value of that argument. For instance, consider the following:

=INT(12.34)

Using this formula, Excel returns a value of 12. You should be aware that INT always returns the next lower whole integer. This only seems odd when dealing with negative numbers. For instance, consider the following:

=INT(-43.21)

You may be tempted to believe that Excel would return a value of -43, but this would be wrong. When following the rule of always returning the next lower whole integer, Excel would return -44, which is the next integer lower than -43.21.