Free Mean, Median and Mode Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a mean, median and mode calculator?

A mean, median and mode calculator finds the 3 common measures of the center of a list of numbers.

Each one answers "what's typical?" in a different way, as the NIST handbook defines them.

How to find the mean, median and mode

Each has its own short rule.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads: 3, 7, 7, 2, 9, 4, 7, 5, 6.

Sorted, it's 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9. The sum is 50, so the mean is 50 ÷ 9 = 5.56.

With 9 values, the median is the 5th: 6. The mode is 7, which shows up 3 times. The range is 9 − 2 = 7.

Which average should you use?

The mean uses every value, so 1 extreme value pulls it. The median ignores how extreme the ends are.

So for incomes or house prices, where a few huge values skew the list, the median is the fairer middle. For test scores without extremes, the mean works well.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the slips that cost marks.

• Finding the median without sorting the list first
• Picking 1 middle value when the count is even, instead of the mean of the middle 2
• Calling the most common value the median
• Saying there's no mode when 2 values tie: there are 2 modes

Who is the mean, median and mode calculator for?

It's for students and anyone summarizing numbers, and these tools help around it.

• Statistics calculator – for every statistic at once
• Standard deviation calculator – for the spread around the mean
• Grade calculator – for a weighted average of your scores

Sort first, and the middle finds itself.