Average Calculator

The average calculator will calculate the mean of up to thirty numbers. An interesting aspect of the calculator is you can see how the mean changes as more values are entered. Before you use the calculator, you should know how to calculate the average, just in case you are without the internet and cannot access this calculator. Note that the mean is the same as average, and we can use these terms interchangeably.

The average of a set of numbers is simply the sum of the numbers divided by the total number of values in the set. For example, suppose we want an average of 24,55, 17, 87 and 100. Simply find the sum of the numbers: 24 + 55 + 17 + 87 + 100 = 283 and divide by 5to get 56.6. A simple problem such as this one can be done by hand without too much trouble, but for more complex numbers involving many decimal places, it is more convenient to use this calculator. Note that the average rating calculator does a similar math - it calculates an average rating given the number of votes with values from 1 to 5.

The weighted average calculator lets you assign weights to each number. A number weighting is an indicator of its importance. A common type of weighted mean that is computed is the grade point average (GPA). Check our dedicated GPA calculator for more details. To do this by hand, follow these steps:

1. Multiply the value of the letter grade by the number of credits in the class.
2. Do this for all the classes and take the sum.
3. Divide the sum by the total number of credits.

Suppose the grades are an A for a 3 credit class, two B's for the 4 credit classes, and a C for a 2 credit class. Using the standard value of 4 for an A, 3 for a B, and 2 for a C, the grade point average is GPA = [4(3) + 3(4) + 3(4) + 2(2)]/(3 + 4 + 4 + 2) = 40/13 = 3.08

Note that the average calculator will compute the average for all values that are weighted equally, in contrast to the tools linked above. In statistics, we treat the mean as a measure of central tendency.

The four averages are the mean, median, mode, and range. The mean is what you typically think as the average - found by summing all values and dividing the sum by the number of values. The median is the middle value of the set (or the average of the two middle values if the set is even). The mode is the piece of data that occurs the most, and the range is the difference between the highest and lowest values.

We calculate averages because they are a very useful way to present a large amount of data. Instead of having to trawl through hundreds or thousands of pieces of data, we have one number that succinctly summarises the whole set. While there are some problems with averages, such as outliers showing an inaccurate average, they are useful to compare data at a glance.

Averages can be misleading for a number of reasons. They best represent evenly distributed bell curves, where most results are found in the middle and few on the extremities. But even one very extreme point can change the average dramatically, so these anomalies are often excluded, but not always. Next, humans tend to interpret averages as being perfect representations, leading to a lack of desire to understand the nuances of the data. Lastly, we often use averages to predict individual cases, which are often wildly inaccurate.

To calculate your grade average:

1. Multiply each grade by the credits or weight attached to it. If your grades are not weighted, skip this step.
2. Add all of the weighted grades (or just the grades if there is no weighting) together.
3. Divide the sum by the number of grades you added together.
4. The resulting quotient is your final grade average.

To evaluate a weighted average:

1. Multiply each number by its weight.
2. Add all of the weighted numbers together.
3. Divide the sum by the number of data points.
4. The resulting quotient is the weighted average.

There is no easy answer to whether the average is better than the mode - it depends entirely on the data set in front of you. If the data is normally distributed and has no outliers, then you should probably use the average, as it will present you with the most representative value. The mode, however, is more robust and will present the most common value, regardless of any outliers. The mode should always be used with categorical data - that is, data with distinct groups - as the groups are not continuous.

Although it is easier to use the Omni Average Calculator, to you calculate average percentage in Excel:

1. Input your desired data, e.g., from cells A1 to A10.
2. Highlight all cells, right click, and select Format Cells.
3. In the Format Cells box, under Number, select Percentages and specify your desired number of decimal places.
4. In another cell, input =AVERAGE(cell 1, cell 2,…). In our example, this would be =AVERAGE(A1:A10).
5. Enjoy your average!

You can average averages, but it is often very inaccurate and should be done carefully. Let's say you had two countries, one with a population of 10 million and a GDP of $30,000 and one of 10,000 and a GDP of $2,000. The average GDP per country is $16,000, while the average GDP per person is ~$30,000, both vastly different figures showing vastly different things - so be careful.

Whether you should use the average or the median will depend on the data you are analyzing. If the data is normally distributed and has no outliers, then you should probably use the average, although the value will be quite similar to that for the median. If the data is heavily skewed, the median should be used as it is less effected by outliers.

The average of averages is not accurate - most of the time. Data can be misleading due to two main factors, lurking variables and weighted averages. Lurking variables is where, by taking the average of averages, a piece of information is lost, which provides greater insight into the topic at hand. The other issue is not weighting averages when it is needed. If, say, the number of people visiting changes each month, by not weighting against the number of people, information will be lost.