Mean, Median & Mode Calculator
Find the mean, median, mode and range of a list of numbers.
Non-numeric entries are ignored. Decimals and negative numbers are supported.
Three kinds of average
The word "average" usually means the mean, but the median and mode are averages too, and they tell different stories about the same data.
| Mean | Sum of the values divided by how many there are. |
|---|---|
| Median | The middle value once the numbers are sorted. |
| Mode | The value (or values) that occur most often. |
The range — the gap between the smallest and largest value — rounds out the picture by showing how spread out the data is.
For 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 the mean is 18 and the median is 15.5. The range is 38 (42 − 4), and since no value repeats there is no mode.
Choosing the right average
No single number summarises data perfectly. The mean uses every value but is pulled by extremes; the median shrugs off outliers; the mode highlights the most common case. Reporting more than one is often the honest thing to do.
Worth remembering
- Outliers move the mean. One very large value can drag the average away from "typical".
- Median for skewed data. Incomes, prices and times are usually better described by the median.
- Mode for categories. The most frequent value is the natural average for non-numeric choices.