In the context of rounding functions in Excel, what does "ABIDES BY RULES" refer to?

The phrase "ABIDES BY RULES" in the context of rounding functions in Excel refers specifically to the ROUND function. This function rounds a number to a specified number of digits and adheres to standard rounding conventions, which dictate that if the digit following the last significant digit is 5 or higher, the last significant digit is rounded up, while if it is less than 5, it remains the same.

The ROUND function is commonly used when precision is important, and it allows users to control how many digits they want to retain. This makes it versatile for various applications in financial reports, statistical data, and other calculations where rounding to the nearest value is necessary.

Other functions such as ROUNDDOWN and ROUNDUP do not abide by the standard rounding rules as they strictly either round down or round up, regardless of the digit following the rounding point, which is why they do not fit the description provided in the question. The CEILING function also rounds numbers up to the nearest specified multiple, which is a different behavior of rounding altogether and does not operate on the standard conventions of rounding to a certain number of digits.