Average Calculator

How to use the average calculator

Paste a list of numbers from a spreadsheet, notes or a website. Commas, spaces, tabs and new lines all work as separators, and dollar and percent signs are ignored. The mean, median, mode and range update as you type.

How to calculate an average

Mean = (sum of all values) ÷ (number of values)

For 12, 15, 18, 15, 20, 9, 15 and 22: the sum is 126 and there are 8 numbers, so the average is 126 ÷ 8 = 15.75.

Mean, median and mode explained

Measure	What it is	Best used when
Mean	Sum ÷ count	Values are fairly even with no extreme outliers
Median	The middle value once sorted (or the average of the two middle values)	Data is skewed, like house prices or incomes
Mode	The value that appears most often	You want the most common answer, like shoe sizes
Range	Largest − smallest	You want a quick sense of spread

In the example, sorting gives 9, 12, 15, 15, 15, 18, 20, 22. The two middle values are 15 and 15, so the median is 15. The mode is 15 because it appears three times, and the range is 22 − 9 = 13.

When the mean can mislead

One very large or very small value pulls the mean toward it. Five salaries of $40,000 and one of $400,000 have a mean of $100,000, even though five of the six people earn $40,000. The median ($40,000) describes the typical person better.

Frequently asked questions

How do you find the average of numbers?

Add all the numbers together and divide by how many numbers there are. For 4, 8 and 9, the average is (4 + 8 + 9) ÷ 3 = 7.

Is average the same as mean?

In everyday use, yes. "Average" usually means the arithmetic mean. Median and mode are other kinds of average.

How do I find a weighted average?

Multiply each value by its weight, add the results, and divide by the total weight. The weighted grade calculator does this for grades.

What if there are two modes?

The data is bimodal and both values are listed. If every value appears once, there is no mode.

Can I paste numbers from Excel?

Yes. Copy a column or row and paste it into the box. Tabs and line breaks are handled automatically.