The mean is average. It is the total sum of all the numbers in a data set divided by the number of values in the group. It may sound a tad robotic, but it’s pretty simple.
There must be at least two numbers in the set for you to be able to find the mean. They should be connected or have some relationship for the mean to be essential. For example, the mean is helpful if you compare the average temperatures of each day across a month or the different marks students get in a class. However, it’s not so beneficial if you use data on a dog’s weight and the speed of an injured pigeon.
Other types of averages are the mode, median, and mean.
How to find the mean in maths
If you’re wondering how to calculate the mean, then we’re here to help. What we mean when we’re working out the mean is finding the average of a group of values. To do this, we find the total of all those values before dividing by the number of values we have.
Let’s work through an example together:
Here, we’ll work out how to find the mean of 2, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
- What we must do first is add all of these numbers together. So, as you can see, the answer to this is 30.
- Now, we have six numbers in total. So, our next step is working out 30÷6.
- We’ve now worked out that 30÷6=5.
- Our final answer, and the mean of these numbers, is 5.
However, it is essential to remember that the mean is not always a whole number. Sometimes, it is a decimal, and that’s OK. We don’t discriminate against decimals in maths.
If we were looking for the mean of a less friendly set of numbers, we might get a decimal answer. Usually, a question will tell you how they want the answer to be given, to one, two, or three decimal places or the nearest whole number.
How to work out the mean with negative numbers
If you think knowing how to find the mean in maths is different when negative numbers are involved, don’t worry! We work it out the same way we would if all the numbers were positive. So let’s try an example with negative numbers:
- We will find the mean of 2, 6, 6, 9, -1, and -4.
- First, we must add them together. To make this easier, add the positive numbers together before treating the negative numbers as a subtraction problem. By doing this, we get 23-5=18.
- Next, we must divide by the number of values we have. That gives us 18÷6=3.
- Our final answer, and the mean of these numbers, is 3.
What is the mean in maths? Types of mean
The most common type of mean we learn and are taught in schools is technically called the ‘arithmetic mean.’
It appears most in statistics when we have a set of data. This data set can be from several sources. For example, it could be the results of an experiment or observational study.
Other notable types of mean include:
- Pythagorean mean
- Geometric mean
- Harmonic mean
When would we use the mean?
One of the primary instances where we could calculate the mean would be when we want to figure out an average or norm of a set of values.
