Mean, Median, Mode & Range Calculator
Calculate the mean (average), median, mode and range of any data set.
- Mean5
- Median4.5
- Mode4
Mean and median differ (5 vs 4.5) — that gap is a sign the data set is skewed by some unusually high or low values.
- Median4.5
- Mode4
- Range7
About the Mean, Median, Mode & Range Calculator
Mean, median, mode and range are the four numbers most people actually mean when they say 'the average and the spread' — the quick summary you'd give of a data set without going as far as variance or standard deviation. Students meet them together in the same lesson, and mixing them up (or not knowing which one a question is really asking for) is one of the most common early-stats stumbling blocks.
This calculator computes all four from one list of numbers, which is often exactly what's needed for a homework check, a quick read on a small data set (test scores, prices, measurements), or just remembering the difference between mean and median without having to look it up.
How it’s calculated
Mean is the sum of all values divided by how many there are — the single number that 'balances' the data set. Median is the middle value once the data is sorted from smallest to largest (or the average of the two middle values if there's an even number of entries) — it depends only on position, not on how large or small the extreme values are.
Mode is whichever value occurs most frequently; a data set can have no mode (every value unique), one mode, or multiple modes tied for most frequent. Range is simply the largest value minus the smallest — the crudest possible measure of spread, but an easy one to compute and interpret at a glance.
Mean and median agree closely when data is roughly symmetric. When they diverge, it's usually because the mean got pulled toward some unusually high or low values that the median, being purely positional, doesn't react to the same way.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between mean and average?
They're the same thing — 'average' in everyday language almost always refers to the mean, which is the sum of the values divided by the count. Median and mode are also technically types of average, but 'average' without qualification means the mean.
Why would mean and median be very different for the same data?
It usually signals the data is skewed by outliers. Income data is the classic example: a handful of very high earners pull the mean well above where most people's actual income sits, while the median — the true middle value — stays representative of a 'typical' person.
Can a data set have more than one mode?
Yes — if two or more values are tied for the highest frequency, the data set is called bimodal (two modes) or multimodal (more than two). This calculator lists every tied mode rather than picking just one.
Is range a reliable measure of spread?
Not especially — it only looks at the two most extreme values and ignores everything in between, so a single unusual outlier can make the range misleading. Standard deviation, which factors in every data point, is a much more complete measure of spread.
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