Choosing a Rounding Algorithm

Choosing a Rounding Algorithm

Problem

The Math.Round method will round the value 1.5 to 2; however, the value 2.5 will also be rounded to 2 using this method. You may always want to round to the greater number in this type of situation (e.g., round 2.5 to 3 instead of 2). Conversely, you might want to always round to the lesser number (e.g., round 1.5 to 1).

Solution

Use the static Math.Floor method to always round up when a value is halfway between two whole numbers:

	public static double RoundUp(double valueToRound)
	{
	    return (Math.Floor(valueToRound + 0.5));
	}

Use the following technique to always round down when a value is halfway between two whole numbers:

	public static double RoundDown(double valueToRound)
	{
	    double floorValue = Math.Floor(valueToRound);
	    if ((valueToRound - floorValue) > .5)
	    {
	        return (floorValue + 1);
	    }
	    else
	    {
	        return (floorValue);
	    }
	}

Discussion

The static Math.Round method rounds to the nearest even number (see Recipe 1.9 for more information). However, there are some times that you do not want to round a number in this manner. The static Math.Floor method can be used to allow for different manners of rounding.

Note that the methods used to round numbers in this recipe do not round to a specific number of decimal points; rather, they round to the nearest whole number.

See Also

See Recipes 1.9 and 1.22; see the "Math Class" topic in the MSDN documentation.