Mean Median Mode Calculator
Calculate all statistics at once
When to Use Each Measure
Formulas
How to Use the Mean Median Mode Calculator
The mean, median, mode calculator analyzes any dataset to find all measures of central tendency at once. Enter your numbers and instantly see the mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation, and more with a visual distribution.
Measures of Central Tendency
These statistics describe the "center" or typical value of a dataset:
Mean (Average)
The sum of all values divided by the count:
Mean = Sum of values / Number of values
Example: Mean of 2, 4, 6, 8 = (2+4+6+8)/4 = 5
Median (Middle Value)
The middle value when data is sorted:
- Odd count: The exact middle number
- Even count: Average of the two middle numbers
The median is useful when data has outliers.
Mode (Most Frequent)
The value that appears most often:
- A dataset can have no mode (all unique values)
- One mode (unimodal)
- Multiple modes (bimodal, multimodal)
Range
The difference between the maximum and minimum values:
Range = Maximum - Minimum
When to Use Each Measure
- Mean: Best for symmetric data without outliers
- Median: Best for skewed data or data with outliers
- Mode: Best for categorical data or finding the most common value
Related Calculators
For variance and standard deviation, use our standard deviation calculator. For statistical significance, try our p-value calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use mean for symmetric data without outliers. Use median when data is skewed or has outliers. Example: salaries at a company where most earn $50K but the CEO earns $10M - the median better represents typical salary. Mean would be misleadingly high.
Yes. A dataset with two modes is bimodal, three is trimodal, etc. If all values appear equally often, theres no mode. Example: [1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4] has two modes (2 and 3). Mode is most useful for categorical data.
Sort the values and take the average of the two middle numbers. For [2, 4, 6, 8]: the middle values are 4 and 6, so median = (4+6)/2 = 5. For odd counts, the median is simply the middle value.
Range = Maximum - Minimum. It measures the spread of data. A dataset with values from 10 to 90 has range 80. Range is simple but sensitive to outliers. For robust spread measurement, use interquartile range (IQR) or standard deviation.
In perfectly symmetric distributions (like normal/bell curves), mean = median = mode. In skewed data, they differ: right-skewed data has mean > median > mode; left-skewed has mean < median < mode. This relationship helps identify skewness.
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