Mean, Median, Mode and Range Calculator

Enter numbers separated by commas, spaces or new lines.

WhatMathsAVG-03

Example

For 1, 2, 2, 3, 4 the sum is 12, so the mean is 12 / 5 = 2.4. The middle value is 2 (median), the most frequent value is 2 (mode), and the range is 4 - 1 = 3.

Mean, median and mode explained

  • Mean (average): add all the numbers and divide by how many there are.
  • Median: the middle value when the numbers are sorted. With an even count, it is the average of the two middle values.
  • Mode: the value that appears most often. A list can have one mode, several modes, or none.
  • Range: the largest value minus the smallest value.

Worked example

Take 4, 8, 6, 5, 3, 8, 9. Sorted, the list is 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9. The sum is 43 and there are 7 values, so the mean is 43 / 7 = 6.143. The middle (4th) value is 6, so the median is 6. The value 8 appears twice, so the mode is 8. The range is 9 - 3 = 6.

When to use each one

  • Use the mean when values are fairly evenly spread and there are no extreme values.
  • Use the median when there are outliers or the data is skewed, such as house prices or incomes. One huge value pulls the mean up but barely moves the median.
  • Use the mode for repeated values or categories, such as the most common shoe size sold.

Tips

  • Separate numbers with commas, spaces or new lines. Decimals and negative numbers are allowed.
  • If every value appears only once, there is no mode.

To see how spread out the numbers are, use the standard deviation calculator.