Three kinds of average
"Average" usually means the mean: add the numbers and divide by how many there are. The median is the middle value once the numbers are sorted, and it is not pulled around by a few extreme values, which is why house prices and incomes are usually reported as medians. The mode is the value that appears most often, useful for things like shoe sizes or survey answers.
Worked example
For 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42: the sum is 108 and there are 6 numbers, so the mean is 18. Sorted, the middle two values are 15 and 16, so the median is 15.5. No value repeats, so there is no mode. The range is 42 − 4 = 38.
Add a 1,000 to that list and the mean jumps to 158.3, while the median only moves to 16. When a few values are much larger than the rest, the median describes the typical value better.
Pasting from a spreadsheet
Copy a column from Excel or Google Sheets and paste it straight in: one number per line works, as do commas, spaces or semicolons.
How this works
The page splits your input into numbers, sorts a copy, and computes: mean = sum ÷ count; median = the middle value, or the mean of the two middle values for an even count; mode = the most frequent value or values, shown only when something repeats; range = largest − smallest. Decimal commas are understood when values are separated by semicolons or line breaks. Results are rounded only for display. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between mean and median?
The mean adds everything and divides by the count; the median is the middle value. Outliers move the mean much more than the median.
What if there are two modes?
Both are listed. Data with two modes is called bimodal.
Why is there no mode?
When every value appears once, no value is more common than the others.
Can I paste numbers with decimal commas?
Yes, if you separate them with semicolons or put one per line, as spreadsheets in many countries export.
Sources
Reviewed Oct 17, 2026 · test vectors fixtures/calculators/math/average-calculator/