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>Central Tendency and Dispersion>How to Calculate Average or Mean in Excel

How to Calculate Average or Mean in Excel

Calculating the mean, or average, of a data set is actually pretty easy. You just add all the values of the data, and then divide that sum by the number of data points. This can be a challenging task if the data consists of a large amount of numbers. In those cases you can use Excel to do the job for you.

Excel Instruction

Calculating the Mean

1.: Input the data in Excel.
2.: Click a nearby empty cell where you want the mean value to be shown. Write

=AVERAGE(
3.: Then mark all the numbers of the data and press Enter.

Example 1

Below, you can see an overview of how many pieces of candy eight of the students in a class ate this weekend:

10, 15, 8, 16, 3, 4, 0, 24

Find the mean of this data.

1.

First you enter all the data values in Excel, into individual cells.

2.

Then you enter the formula for finding the mean in an empty cell. Write

=AVERAGE(

3.

Then you highlight the cell range containing your data and press Enter. Simple as that!

Spreadsheet in Excel presenting data and its mean

The result is:

Spreadsheet in Excel showing formula for mean value for data

From Excel you see that the mean amount of candy eaten this weekend is 10 pieces.

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