What is an average?

The average, also called the arithmetic mean, is the sum of a set of numbers divided by how many numbers are in the set. For the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, the sum is 25 and there are 5 values, so the average is 5.

How to use the Average Calculator

Type or paste your numbers into the data set box. Separate values with commas, spaces, or line breaks. The calculator accepts positive and negative numbers, decimals, and numbers in scientific notation such as 1.5e3. You can enter up to 10,000 values at once.

Choose the number of decimal places from the Decimal places menu, then press Calculate. Use the example chips below the input to load sample data sets, or press Clear to start over.

What the results show

Besides the average, the result panel shows the total sum and the count of values, then the median, the mode, the smallest value, the largest value, and the range. When every input value is greater than zero, the tool also reports the geometric mean and the harmonic mean. The population variance and the sample variance are included, so you can see how spread out the values are. Press the Copy result button on any result panel to copy the main answer to your clipboard.

Weighted average mode

Use the Weighted mode when some values matter more than others. Enter the values in one box and the matching weights in the other box. Each weight must match one value. The result is the sum of value times weight, divided by the total weight. For example, scores of 10, 20, and 30 with weights of 2, 3, and 4 give a weighted average of 22.22.

Average time mode

The Time mode averages durations. Enter each duration as hours, minutes, and seconds, for example 0:30:00, or as minutes and seconds, for example 75:00. The result is the average duration, the average in hours, the total time, and the count of durations. For the durations 0:30:00, 1:15:00, and 75:00 the average is 1:00:00.

Worked examples

For the data set 2, 4, 4, 10: the sum is 20 and there are 4 values, so the average is 5. The median is 4, the mode is 4, the smallest value is 2, the largest value is 10, and the range is 8. The population variance is 9 and the sample variance is 12.

For the data set 1, 3, 5, 7, 9: the average is 5 and the median is 5. With default settings of 2 decimal places, the geometric mean is 3.94 and the harmonic mean is 2.80.

Edge cases

An empty input shows a validation message instead of a result. If a value cannot be read, the tool names the first problem value so you can correct it. The geometric mean and harmonic mean are left out when the set contains zero or a negative number, because those values have no real result under those means. The sample variance is left out when there is only one value.

Average Calculator