Your result will appear here
Fill in the fields and press Calculate.
Mean, median and mode are the three "averages", and they can tell very different stories about the same data. The mean is the arithmetic average, the median is the middle value, and the mode is the most frequent one.
Paste your numbers — separated by commas, spaces or new lines — and get all three plus the range, min, max, sum and count.
How is it calculated?
The three measures of centre
| Measure | How it's found |
|---|---|
| Mean | Sum of all values ÷ how many there are |
| Median | The middle value once sorted (average of the two middle values if the count is even) |
| Mode | The value that appears most often ("none" if all are unique) |
When to use which
The mean uses every value but is pulled by outliers — one huge salary drags the average up. The median ignores magnitude and reports the true middle, which is why incomes and house prices are usually quoted as medians. The mode is the only one that works for categories and highlights the most common outcome.
A quick illustration
For 2, 2, 3, 4, 9 the mean is 4, but four of the five values sit at or below 3 — the single 9 inflates the mean. The median, 3, describes the typical value far better. Whenever the mean and median diverge, the data is skewed.
Where it helps
Test scores, survey results, prices, and any quick descriptive summary. The tool also gives the range (max − min) to show spread, and the sum and count so you can check the inputs. For the spread around the mean, use a standard deviation calculator.
Worked example
Take 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. The sum is 108 and the count is 6, so the mean is 108 ÷ 6 = 18. Sorted, the two middle values are 15 and 16, so the median is (15 + 16) ÷ 2 = 15.5. Every value appears once, so there is no mode. The range is 42 − 4 = 38.
FAQ
What is the difference between mean, median and mode?+
The mean is the sum divided by the count, the median is the middle value when sorted, and the mode is the most frequent value. They coincide only for symmetric data.
How do I find the median of an even set of numbers?+
Sort the values and average the two in the middle. For 15 and 16 in the centre, the median is 15.5.
Can there be more than one mode?+
Yes. If two or more values tie for the highest frequency, the set is multimodal and the tool lists all of them. If every value is unique, there is no mode.
When should I use the median instead of the mean?+
Use the median when the data has outliers or is skewed — for incomes, house prices or reaction times — because it isn’t distorted by extreme values.
What is the range?+
The range is the largest value minus the smallest, a simple measure of how spread out the data is. For 4 to 42 the range is 38.