How to Figure Out the Mean in Math

Learning the difference between mean, median, and mode can be tricky for students to comprehend at first. The mean is the average of a sum of numbers. The median is the middle value in a list of numbers. Mode is the value that occurs most often in a set of numbers. Learning how to calculate the mean is a simple, straightforward process. It requires adding a group of numbers together and dividing their total by the amount of numbers in the group.

Instructions

1. Determine which group of numbers you will be calculating the mean of--how many numbers you will be adding together. For example, consider the group of numbers: "9, 13, 7, 11".

2. Add all of the number values together. Continuing with the number group in step one, you would add 9, 13, 7 and 11 together to get a sum of 40.

3. Divide the sum by the total amount of numbers added together. The sum 40 was calculated by adding 4 numbers together; therefore, to find the mean, divide 40 by 4 to get a mean (average) of 10.

Tips & Warnings

• It is not uncommon to get a mean that is not a whole number, but a mixed decimal. Check your arithmetic first, but not all numbers divide evenly so this result should occasionally be expected.

References

• mathsisfun.com: How to Calculate the mean Value