Average Calculator
Type or paste your numbers, separated by commas or spaces, and press Calculate Average. You get the mean, the sum and how many numbers you entered. The mean and the sum are rounded to 4 decimal places, so 1, 2, 2 gives a mean of 1.6667. Anything that is not a number, such as a word, is left out and listed under the result.
How to use the Average Calculator
- Enter your numbers in the Average Calculator above.
- Press the Calculate Average button to see the result.
- To try other numbers, change any value and press the button again.
The average formula
Average = (Σ x_i) / n
Add the numbers and divide by how many there are. This is the arithmetic mean, the average the calculator shows. It works from the numbers exactly as you type them and rounds once, at the end. Geometric, harmonic and weighted averages use other formulas, and the calculator does not work them out.
Worked example
Test scores: 75, 82, 90, 88, 95. Average = (75 + 82 + 90 + 88 + 95) / 5 = 430 / 5 = 86. The calculator shows a mean of 86, a sum of 430 and a count of 5.
Frequently asked questions
When is average misleading?
When the data has outliers or is skewed. If a billionaire walks into a bar, the average net worth of the people inside jumps by millions, yet nobody else got richer. The median copes better with skewed data, and the mean, median and mode calculator shows both.
What is weighted average?
An average where some values count more than others: Σ(w_i × x_i) / Σ(w_i). GPA is a weighted average of grades by credit hours. This calculator gives every number the same weight. For whole-number weights, type a value as many times as its weight.
What's the difference between mean and average?
In everyday English they mean the same thing. In statistics "mean" is the more formal word and comes in several kinds, such as arithmetic, geometric and harmonic. "Average" usually means the arithmetic mean, which is what this calculator works out.