How to Calculate the Average of a Set of Numbers

This wikiHow article will show you how to find the average of a set of numbers.

Table of Contents

Calculate the average number

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Sum the numbers in the set of numbers. The first thing to do is to add all the numbers in the set of numbers. For example, we have a set of numbers: 1, 2, 3 and 6. Then 1 + 2 + 3 + 6 = 12.

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Divide the result by the number of numbers in the set. We see here that there are 4 different numbers, so the sum of 12 is divided by 4 to get the mean. 12 : 4 = 3. So the mean of the set of numbers is 3.

Calculate Average Value

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Write down the average of each category. Using the arithmetic mean method is to add all the values of the numbers in a set of numbers and then divide by the number of numbers in that set to find the mean of each category. For example, you want to find the average of your classroom metrics when you have the mean (in %) and percentage for each grade:

Grade point average of homework = 93%
Average test score = 88%
Oral test score = 91 %

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Write down the percentage of each mean. Remember that the sum of the percentages by category must be 100%. For example, the percentages of the above score categories are as follows:

Homework = 30% of the final grade
Exam = 50% of total final grade
Oral exam = 20% of total final grade

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Multiply each mean by the corresponding percentage of that score classification. Now you just need to convert the percentage to a decimal and then multiply by the corresponding mean. 30% of the total final grade is 0.3, 50% of the total final grade is 0.5, and 20% of the total final grade is 0.2. Multiply all these decimals by their respective mean.

Homework = 93 x 0.3 = 27.9
Test = 88 x 0.5 = 44
Oral test = 91 x 0.2 = 18.2

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Add up the results. To find the final mean, simply add all three results together: 27.9 + 44 + 18.2 = 90.1. So the final mean value of 3 groups of scores is 90.1.

Advice

Use pen and paper – it’s a lot easier than mental math.
Most people use the mean when finding the arithmetic mean.

Steps

Calculate the average number

Calculate Average Value

Advice

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