MATH · MEAN, MEDIAN AND MODE
Mean, Median and Mode Calculator
Find the mean (average), median (middle value), and mode (most frequent value) of any list of numbers.
Mean5.6
Median6
Mode6
Count5
About This Calculator
The three measures of central tendency describe where the centre of a dataset lies. Mean, median, and mode each capture a different aspect — and they often tell different stories about the same data.
How It Works
Enter your numbers separated by commas or spaces. The calculator computes the mean (sum divided by count), median (sorted middle), and mode (most frequent value). Datasets where all values appear once have no mode; datasets with multiple most-frequent values are multimodal.
The Formula
Mean = Σxᵢ / n Median = sorted middle
- xᵢ
- each value
- n
- count of values
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is the median more useful than the mean?
- When the data contains outliers. A few very large or very small values can pull the mean far from where most data points cluster, while the median is unaffected. Household income statistics, for example, typically report median income to avoid distortion from very high earners.
- What is a multimodal dataset?
- A dataset with more than one mode — that is, multiple values that each appear the most times. If [1, 1, 2, 2, 3] is the dataset, 1 and 2 are both modes since both appear twice.
- Can the mean, median, and mode all be different?
- Yes. In a perfectly symmetric distribution they are equal; in skewed distributions they can differ significantly.