AvgLab

Average Calculator

Add them, divide by count.

Value 1

Value 2

Value 3

Average

What you entered

Value 1: 10Value 2: 20Value 3: 30

1
Sum the values
10 + 20 + 30= 60
2
Divide by the count
60 ÷ 3= 20

Result

Average: 20

The average of 10, 20, and 30 is 20.

Average of three numbers

The mean of three values is their sum divided by three.

Values	Average
10, 20, 30	20.0000
5, 10, 15	10.0000
1, 2, 6	3.0000
100, 200, 300	200.0000
7, 8, 9	8.0000

In evenly spaced sets like the first, second, fourth and fifth rows the average lands exactly on the middle value, which is a useful mental shortcut. The third row breaks that: 1, 2 and 6 average to 3, which is higher than two of the three values, because the 6 pulls it up. That is the mean's weakness - it is sensitive to outliers in a way the median is not. For more than three values, or for median and mode alongside the mean, use the mean median mode calculator.

The most basic statistic there is

The average (arithmetic mean) sums every value and divides by how many there are — it's the single number that best represents a whole set if you had to pick just one.

Its one weakness

A single extreme outlier can drag the average far from what's 'typical' — three test scores of 90, 92, and 10 average to 64, which doesn't represent any of the three scores well.

Frequently asked questions

My three exam scores are 78, 85, and 92 — what do I need on the fourth exam to average 85?

Current sum: 78 + 85 + 92 = 255. To average 85 across 4 exams, you need a total of 85 × 4 = 340. So you need 340 − 255 = 85 on the fourth exam.

When should I use the median instead of the average?

Use the median when outliers could distort the picture. Household income is the classic example: a few billionaires pull the average way above what most people earn, while the median stays representative. The mean-median-mode calculator handles all three.

Is 'average' always the same as 'mean'?

In everyday usage, yes — 'average' almost always means the arithmetic mean (sum ÷ count). Technically, the median and mode are also types of averages, and specialized fields use the geometric mean or harmonic mean for specific situations.

How does the average relate to standard deviation?

The average tells you where the center of your data is; standard deviation tells you how spread out the data is around that center. A dataset of 50, 50, 50 and one of 0, 50, 100 both average 50, but the second has a much larger standard deviation. Use the standard deviation calculator for spread.