How to find the mean in excel

How to Find Mean in Excel (Table of Content)

• Introduction to Mean in Excel
• Example of Mean in Excel

Introduction to Mean in Excel

The average function is used to calculate the Arithmetic Mean of the given input. It is used to do sum of all arguments and divide it by the count of arguments where the half set of the number will be smaller than the mean, and the remaining set will be greater than the mean. It will return the arithmetic mean of the number based on provided input. It is an in-built Statistical function. A user can give 255 input arguments in the function.

As an example, suppose there is 4 number 5,10,15,20 if a user wants to calculate the mean of the numbers then it will return 12.5 as the result of =AVERAGE (5, 10, 15, 20).

The formula of Mean: It is used to return the mean of the provided number where a half set of the number will be smaller than the number, and the remaining set will be greater than the mean.

The argument of the Function:

• number1: It is a mandatory argument in which functions will take to calculate the mean.
• [number2]: It is an optional argument in the function.

Examples on How to Find Mean in Excel

Here are some examples of how to find mean in excel with the steps and the calculation

You can download this How to Find Mean Excel Template here – How to Find Mean Excel Template

Example #1 – How to Calculate the Basic Mean in Excel

Let’s assume there is a user who wants to perform the calculation for all numbers in Excel. Let’s see how we can do this with the average function.

Step 1: Open MS Excel from the start menu >> Go to Sheet1, where the user has kept the data.

Step 2: Now create headers for Mean where we will calculate the mean of the numbers.

Step 3: Now calculate the mean of the given number by average function>> use the equal sign to calculate >> Write in cell C2 and use average>> “=AVERAGE (“

Step 3: Now, it will ask for a number1, which is given in column A >> there are 2 methods to provide input either a user can give one by one or just give the range of data >> select data set from A2 to A11 >> write in cell C2 and use average>> “=AVERAGE (A2: A11) “

Step 4: Now press the enter key >> Mean will be calculated.

Summary of Example 1: As the user wants to perform the mean calculation for all numbers in MS Excel. Easley everything calculated in the above excel example, and the Mean is 27.5 for sales.

Example #2 – How to Calculate Mean if Text Value Exists in the Data Set

Let’s calculate the Mean if there is some text value in the Excel data set. Let’s assume a user wants to perform the calculation for some sales data set in Excel. But there is some text value also there. So, he wants to use count for all, either its text or number. Let’s see how we can do this with the AVERAGE function. Because in the normal AVERAGE function, it will exclude the text value count.

Step 1: Open MS Excel from the start menu >> Go to Sheet2, where the user has kept the data.

Step 2: Now create headers for Mean where we will calculate the mean of the numbers.

Step 3: Now calculate the mean of the given number by average function>> use the equal sign to calculate >> Write in cell D2 and use AVERAGEA>> “=AVERAGEA (“

Step 4: Now, it will ask for a number1, which is given in column B >> there is two open to provide input either a user can give one by one or just give the range of data >> select data set from B2 to B11 >> write in D2 Cell and use average>> “=AVERAGEA (D2: D11) “

Step 5: Now click on the enter button >> Mean will be calculated.

Step 6: Just to compare the AVERAGEA and AVERAGE, in normal average, it will exclude the count for text value so mean will high than the AVERAGE MEAN.

Summary of Example 2: As the user wants to perform the mean calculation for all number in MS Excel. Easley, everything calculated in the above excel example and the Mean is $146377.80 for sales. 

Example #3 – How to Calculate Mean for Different Set of Data

Let’s assume a user wants to perform the calculation for some student’s mark data set in MS Excel. There are ten student marks for Math, English, and Science out of 100. Let’s see How to Find Mean in Excel with the AVERAGE function.

Step 1: Open the MS Excel from the start menu >> Go to Sheet3, where the user kept the data.

Step 2: Now create headers for Mean where we will calculate the mean of the numbers.

Step 3: Now calculate the mean of the given number by average function>> use the equal sign to calculate >> Write in F2 Cell and use AVERAGE >> “=AVERAGE (“

Step 3: Now, it will ask for number1 which is given in B, C, and D column >> there is two open to provide input either a user can give one by one or just give the range of data >> Select data set from B2 to D2 >> Write in F2 Cell and use average >> “=AVERAGE (B2: D2) “

Step 4: Now click on the enter button >> Mean will be calculated.

Step 5: Now click on the F2 cell and drag and apply to another cell in the F column.

Summary of Example 3: As the user wants to perform the mean calculation for all number in MS Excel. Easley, everything calculated in the above excel example and the Mean is available in the F column.

Things to Remember About How to Find Mean in Excel

• Microsoft Excel’s AVERAGE function used to calculate the Arithmetic Mean of the given input. A user can give 255 input arguments in the function.
• Half the set of a number will be smaller than the mean, and the remaining set will be greater than the mean.
• If a user calculating the normal average, it will exclude the count for a text value, so AVERAGE Mean will bigger than the AVERAGE MEAN.
• Arguments can be number, name, range or cell references that should contain a number.
• If a user wants to calculate the mean with some condition, then use AVERAGEIF or AVERAGEIFS.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to How to Find Mean in Excel. Here we discuss How to Find Mean along with examples and a downloadable excel template. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –

1. FIND Function in Excel
2. Excel Find
3. Excel Average Formula
4. Excel AVERAGE Function

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You can use the following formulas to find the mean, median, and mode of a dataset in Excel:

=AVERAGE(A1:A10)

=MEDIAN(A1:A10) 

=MODE.MULT(A1:A10) 

It’s worth noting that each of these formulas will simply ignore non-numeric or blank values when calculating these metrics for a range of cells in Excel.

The following examples shows how to use these formulas in practice with the following dataset:

Example: Finding the Mean in Excel

The mean represents the average value in a dataset.

The following screenshot shows how to calculate the mean of a dataset in Excel:

The mean turns out to be 19.11. 

Example: Finding the Median in Excel

The median represents the middle value in a dataset, when all of the values are arranged from smallest to largest.

The following screenshot shows how to calculate the median of a dataset in Excel:

The median turns out to be 20.

Example: Finding the Mode in Excel

The mode represents the value that occurs most often in a dataset. Note that a dataset can have no mode, one mode, or multiple modes.

The following screenshot shows how to calculate the mode(s) of a dataset in Excel:

The modes turn out to be 7 and 25. Each of these values appears twice in the dataset, which is more often than any other value occurs.

Note: If you use the =MODE() function instead, it will only return the first mode. For this dataset, only the value 7 would be returned. For this reason, it’s always a good idea to use the =MODE.MULT() function in case there happens to be more than one mode in the dataset.

Additional Resources

How to Calculate the Interquartile Range (IQR) in Excel
How to Calculate the Midrange in Excel
How to Calculate Standard Deviation in Excel

Finding the mean (or average) of a set of values is used in many contexts, including business, finance, and research.  Microsoft Excel can find the mean for any set of values you choose as input.

So, how do you find mean in Excel?  To find mean in Excel, use the “AVERAGE” function. The input to the average function is a range of cells (you can enter one or more cells, rows, or columns, separating inputs with a comma). For example, the mean of the values in cells A1 to A20 would be given by the formula “=AVERAGE(A1:A20)”.

Of course, when dealing with the mean, remember that population mean takes into account every person or item in the entire group, while sample mean only uses a subset of the group.

In this article, we’ll talk about finding mean in Excel, including how to do it, alternative methods, and when you might use it.  We’ll also look at some other types of mean, including geometric mean, harmonic mean, and weighted averages.

Let’s get started.

How To Find Mean In Excel (The Average Function In Excel)

The easiest way to find the mean (also called arithmetic mean) in Excel is to use the “AVERAGE” function.  This function can take one or more inputs, separated by commas.

Each input is one or more cells – an input can be:

• a single cell (for example, “A1” would be a single cell)
• a row (for example, “A1:J1” would be a row consisting of 10 cells)
• a column (for example, “A1:A8” would be a column consisting of 8 cells)
• a block of cells (for example, “A1:J8” would be a block of cells consisting of 8 rows and 10 columns, for a total of 8*10 = 80 cells)
• a named range (for example “my_values”, which could denote any set of cells you choose, including an individual cell, a row, a column, or a block of cells)

For example, the mean of the values in cells A1 to J1 (a row of 10 cells) would be given by the formula

• =AVERAGE(A1:J1)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

The mean of the values in cells A1 to A8 (a column of 8 cells) would be given by the formula

• =AVERAGE(A1:A8)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

The mean of the values in cells A1 to J8 (a block of 80 cells) would be given by the formula

• =AVERAGE(A1:J8)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

The mean of the value in cells A1 to A5 and C1 to C5 would be given by the formula

• =AVERAGE(A1:A5, C1:C5)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

Note that the two inputs (A1:A5 and C1:C5) are separated by a comma.  Each input has a total of 5 cells, for a total of 10 cells as input.

Also note that we can take the average of any combination of cells, rows, columns, and blocks.

Alternative To Average In Excel

One alternative to the AVERAGE function in Excel is to combine the SUM and COUNT functions, along with division (denoted by the “/” symbol).

Remember that the mean (average or arithmetic mean) for a set of n values {x₁, x₂, … , x_n} is given by the formula:

• Mean = (x₁ + x₂ + … + x_n) / n

or, as an Excel formula for n = 10:

• =SUM(A1:A10) / COUNT(A1:A10)

The above formula will return the same result as

• =AVERAGE(A1:A10)

The alternative method is useful in some cases when you might like to show the sum, the count, and the mean that comes from dividing the sum by the count.

Example: Alternative To Average In Excel

Let’s say we want to find the mean of the set of values in the cells A1:D5 in Excel.  Instead of using the AVERAGE function, we can divide the SUM function by the COUNT function as follows:

• =SUM(A1:D5) / COUNT(A1:D5)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

Note that you can also use a named range to make it easier to change inputs later.  For example, if you create a named range called “my_values” and define it to be cells A1:D5, you can use the formula:

• =SUM(my_values) / COUNT(my_values)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

If you change the definition of the named range my_values to cells A1:E5, the sum and count will be updated to reflect the new input range (as will the average).

Is Average The Same As Mean In Excel? (Difference Between Mean & Average)

In Excel, average is the same as mean.  That is, there is no difference between mean and average in Excel.

However, there are different types of means that we can use.  For example, there is geometric mean and also harmonic mean (we will look at both of these later).

There is also a weighted average, which assigns different weight to each value.  The arithmetic mean (or mean, or average) assigns equal weight to each value.

When To Use Average In Excel

The average (or mean) is a measure of center in a data set.  So, you might use an average in Excel to tell you where the center of a data set lies.

(You can learn more about uses of mean in this article).

You can also use median or mode as alternative measures of center for a data set.  You can learn more about the differences between mean and median here.

 Another way to use average in Excel is to track the performance of a group or to compare multiple groups, based on a data set from each group.  For example, you could track the average revenue per month, quarter, or year for one or more groups of salespeople at a company.

How To Calculate Geometric Mean In Excel

Remember that the geometric mean for a set of n values {x₁, x₂, … , x_n} is given by the formula:

• Geometric Mean = ⁿ√(x₁*x₂*…*x_n)

In other words, the geometric mean of a set of n values is the principal nth root of the product of those n numbers.

The easiest way to find the geometric mean in Excel is to use the “GEOMEAN” function.  This function can take one or more inputs, separated by commas.

Each input is one or more cells – an input can be:

• a single cell (for example, “A1” would be a single cell)
• a row (for example, “A1:J1” would be a row consisting of 10 cells)
• a column (for example, “A1:A8” would be a column consisting of 8 cells)
• a block of cells (for example, “A1:J8” would be a block of cells consisting of 8 rows and 10 columns, for a total of 8*10 = 80 cells)
• a named range (for example “my_values”, which could denote any set of cells you choose, including an individual cell, a row, a column, or a block of cells)

For example, the geometric mean of the values in cells A1 to J1 (a row of 10 cells) would be given by the formula

• =GEOMEAN(A1:J1)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

The geometric mean of the values in cells A1 to A8 (a column of 8 cells) would be given by the formula

• =GEOMEAN(A1:A8)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

How To Calculate Harmonic Mean In Excel

Remember that the harmonic mean for a set of n values {x₁, x₂, … , x_n} is given by the formula:

• Harmonic Mean = n / (x₁^-1 + x₂^-1 … + x_n^-1)

In other words, to find the harmonic mean of a set of n values, we take these steps:

• Step 1: Find the reciprocal (inverse) of each of the n values in the set of numbers (so x₁^-1 = 1/x₁, x₂^-1 = 1/x_2, etc.)
• Step 2: take the sum of the n reciprocals from Step 1 (calculate x₁^-1 + x₂^-1 … + x_n^-1).
• Step 3: take the reciprocal of the sum from Step 2 (calculate 1 / (x₁^-1 + x₂^-1 … + x_n^-1)).
• Step 4: multiply the result of Step 3 by n (calculate n / (x₁^-1 + x₂^-1 … + x_n^-1)).

The easiest way to find the geometric mean in Excel is to use the “HARMEAN” function.  This function can take one or more inputs, separated by commas.

Each input is one or more cells – an input can be:

• a single cell (for example, “A1” would be a single cell)
• a row (for example, “A1:J1” would be a row consisting of 10 cells)
• a column (for example, “A1:A8” would be a column consisting of 8 cells)
• a block of cells (for example, “A1:J8” would be a block of cells consisting of 8 rows and 10 columns, for a total of 8*10 = 80 cells)
• a named range (for example “my_values”, which could denote any set of cells you choose, including an individual cell, a row, a column, or a block of cells)

For example, the harmonic mean of the values in cells A1 to J1 (a row of 10 cells) would be given by the formula

• =HARMEAN(A1:J1)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

The harmonic mean of the values in cells A1 to A8 (a column of 8 cells) would be given by the formula

• =HARMEAN(A1:A8)

You can see an example of this illustrated below.

How To Calculate Weighted Average In Excel (Weighted Mean)

The easiest way to calculate weighted average (weighted mean) in Excel is to use the SUMPRODUCT formula.  The first input is the set of values, and the second input is the set of weights.

Note that the values and weights should correspond.  If they do not, you will be assigning the wrong weights to each value.

Also, the weights should add up to 1 (100%).

Example: Weighted Average In Excel

Let’s say we want to take a weighted average of 5 values in Excel.  The table below gives the values and the weights:

Values	Weights
2	0.1
5	0.15
7	0.25
11	0.3
15	0.2

In Excel, we would put the numbers from column 1 in the table (values) into cells A1:A5. Then, we would put the numbers from column 2 in the table (weights) into cells B1:B5.

Finally, we would use the SUMPRODUCT formula to multiply each value in the first column by its corresponding weight in the second column, and then add up the products.

The formula would be:

• =SUMPRODUCT(A1:A5, B1:B5)

You can see a picture of this below.

Conclusion

Now you know how to find mean in Excel, as well as an alternative method to find the mean in Excel and how to use named ranges.  You also know how to find other types of means and weighted averages in Excel.

You can learn more about what mean tells you about data (along with lots of examples) here.

You can learn how to calculate median in Excel here.

You can learn how to calculate the mode in Excel here.

You can learn about the differences between mean and standard deviation here.

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