Average Calculator
Paste your numbers separated by commas, spaces or new lines. You get the mean along with the median, mode and spread, because the mean alone can be misleading.
How the math works
Mean = sum of the values divided by how many there are. Median = the middle value once sorted, or the average of the middle two if there is an even count. Mode = the value that appears most often. There can be none, one or several. Standard deviation = the square root of the average squared distance from the mean, dividing by n - 1 for a sample and by n for a whole population.
Common questions
- What is the difference between mean and median?
- The mean adds everything up and divides. The median is the middle value. One very large number drags the mean up but barely moves the median, which is why incomes and house prices are usually reported as medians.
- When should I use the median instead?
- Whenever the data has outliers or is lopsided. If the mean and median above are far apart, something is pulling the mean around and the median is the more honest summary.
- Sample or population standard deviation?
- Sample, almost always. You use population only when your list genuinely contains every member of the group you care about - every student in one class, not a survey of students. Sample divides by n - 1, which makes the answer slightly larger and corrects a known bias.
- Can a list have more than one mode?
- Yes. If two values tie for most frequent, the list is bimodal and both are shown. If every value appears once, there is no mode at all.
- Can I paste a column from a spreadsheet?
- Yes. New lines count as separators, so a pasted column works the same as a comma-separated row.