About the average calculator
Three different things are called the average and they answer different questions. The mean is the total shared out evenly; the median is the middle value once sorted; the mode is the value that occurs most often.
Which one to use depends on the shape of the data. A single very large value drags the mean but barely moves the median, which is why incomes are usually reported as a median and test scores as a mean.
Frequently asked questions
- Is anything I enter sent anywhere?
- No. Every calculation runs inside your browser. Nothing you type - a date of birth, a salary, a list of numbers - is uploaded, stored or logged, and the page keeps working with the network disconnected.
- When should I use the median instead of the mean?
- When a few extreme values would distort the picture. Nine people earning 20,000 and one earning 500,000 have a mean income of 68,000 and a median of 20,000; only the median describes what a typical person earns.
- What if no number repeats?
- Then the list has no mode, and that is what is reported. Some tools name the first value instead, which is simply wrong.
- Which standard deviation should I use?
- Population when your numbers are the whole group you care about, sample when they are a sample you are generalising from. Both are shown; the sample figure is slightly larger, and needs at least two values to exist at all.
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How your data is handled
Everything happens on your device. There is no upload, no storage and no logging. Closing the tab clears everything you entered.