Hey, that was an interesting challenge, especially the lower but here you go:
To evaluate A1:

Upper value:
=LEN(TEXT(INT(ABS(A1)),0))-1

Lower value:
=LEN(RIGHT(TEXT(ABS(A1)-INT(ABS(A1)),"General"),LEN(TEXT(ABS(A1)-INT(ABS(A1)),"General"))-IF(ISERROR(FIND(".",TEXT(ABS(A1)-INT(ABS(A1)),"General"),1)),1,FIND(".",TEXT(ABS(A1)-INT(ABS(A1)),"General"),1))))

HTH

Giz

"Neil Goldwasser" wrote:

> Hi! Does anybody know of a function/series of functions that could determine
> the upper & lower place value of a cell value?
>
> E.g. the highest place value used in 123.4 is the hundreds column, and the
> lowest is the tenths column. Whereas the highest in 12.34 is the tens column
> and the lowest is the hundreths column.
>
> The output would probably be best if it was numerical relative to the
> decimal point, as is used in the ROUND functions (number of decimal places
> used), e.g.
>
> units column = 0
>
> tenths column = 1 (1 d.p.)
> hundredths column = 2 (2.d.p)
> etc...
> and going the other way (with the result being a negative number, so
> denoting a place value to the LEFT of the decimal point)
>
> tens column = -1
> hundreds column = -2
> etc...
>
> I'd be really grateful if anybody could solve this puzzle for me.
> Many thanks in advance, Neil