Average Calculator
Enter up to five values to calculate their average instantly.
How to use this average calculator
- Enter your values
Type numbers into the Value 1 through Value 5 fields — fill as many or as few as you need.
- Read the average
The calculator adds the entered values and divides by the count to produce the arithmetic mean.
- Check the sum
Review the Sum result to verify the total of all entered numbers.
- Note the range
Use the Minimum and Maximum outputs to see the spread of your values at a glance.
- Verify the count
Check Numbers counted to confirm the calculator included the correct number of entries.
How this average calculator works
This calculator adds the entered values together and divides by the number of values provided to produce the arithmetic mean. It also reports the count, sum, minimum, and maximum so you can quickly sanity-check the result and understand the spread of the values.
average = sum of values ÷ number of values The average of 12, 18, and 15 is (12 + 18 + 15) ÷ 3 = 15.
The average of 25, 30, 35, and 40 is (25 + 30 + 35 + 40) ÷ 4 = 32.5.
The average of 100 and 200 is (100 + 200) ÷ 2 = 150.
- ✓ Only the values you enter are included in the average.
- ✓ Blank fields are ignored rather than counted as zero.
- ✓ This calculator returns the arithmetic mean, not median or mode.
- Averages are sensitive to unusually high or low values.
- If you need the middle value instead of the mean, use a median calculation instead.
- This is useful for grades, prices, timing samples, and small datasets.
- Elementary statistics definitions for arithmetic mean
What is the arithmetic mean?
The arithmetic mean is the most common type of average. It is calculated by adding all values in a set and dividing by how many values there are. The result represents the central tendency of the data — the single number that best summarizes the group when every value is weighted equally. If five students score 70, 80, 85, 90, and 100, the mean is 85, meaning the group performs as if each student scored 85. The arithmetic mean is widely used in finance, science, education, and daily life because it is simple to compute and easy to understand. However, it can be pulled significantly by extreme values, which is why median is sometimes preferred for skewed data.
When to use mean versus median
The arithmetic mean works well when data is roughly symmetric and free of extreme outliers. Exam scores, daily temperatures, and manufacturing measurements are common examples where the mean gives a reliable summary. However, when data is skewed — such as household incomes, real estate prices, or response times — the median often provides a more representative picture because it is not affected by a handful of very large or very small values. As a rule of thumb, if the mean and median are close together, the data is fairly balanced and either measure works. If they differ substantially, the median is usually the better choice for describing a typical value, while the mean remains useful for computing totals and projections.
Average calculator FAQs
What kind of average is this?
It is the arithmetic mean, which is found by adding the values and dividing by how many values there are.
Do blank fields count as zero?
No. Blank fields are ignored so only entered numbers affect the result.
Why does the calculator show min and max too?
They help you check whether one extreme value may be pulling the average higher or lower.