Excel AVERAGE Function

The AVERAGE function calculates the average (arithmetic mean) of the given numbers.

Syntax

=AVERAGE (number1, [number2], ...)

Arguments

Return value

The AVERAGE function returns a numeric value.

Function notes

1. Arguments in the AVERAGE function can be supplied as numbers or names, arrays, or references that contain numbers. Up to 255 arguments are allowed.
2. AVERAGE function can count the Logical values and text representations of numbers (numbers enclosed with quotation marks, says “10”) that you type directly into the list of arguments.
3. AVERAGE function ignores empty cells or cells that contain text or logical values.
4. If you prefer the cells that contain Logical values and text representations of numbers to be included in the calculation, use the AVERAGEA function.
5. AVERAGE function includes the zero values in the calculation.
6. If you prefer the zero values to be ignored, use the AVERAGEIF or AVERAGEIFS function.
7. To calculate the average, all numeric values are summed and divided by the count of numeric values in the AVERAGE function.
8. The #DIV/0! error value occurs if all supplied arguments are non-numeric.
9. The #VALUE! error value occurs if any of the supplied arguments you typed directly in the function are text strings that cannot be interpreted as numbers by Excel.

Examples

Example 1: Basic Usage

To calculate the average of the numbers provided in the below table, please copy the formula below into cell E5 and press the Enter key to get the result.

=AVERAGE (C5:C10)

Notes:

1. The argument in the above formula is supplied as a range that contain multiple values.
2. We can directly input values in the arguments of the formula. The formula above can be changed to:

   =AVERAGE (72, 61, 64, 80, 76, 67)

3. We can also use cell references as arguments of the formula. The formula above can be changed to:

   =AVERAGE (C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10)

Example 2: Average Top N

To calculate the average of the top n numbers, we need to combine the AVERAGE function with the LARGE function.

For example, we want to get the average of the top 3 numbers in the table below, please copy the formulas below into cell E5 and press the Enter key to get the results.

=AVERAGE (LARGE (C5:C10,{1,2,3}) )

Notes:

1. The LARGE function in the above formula returns the top 3 numbers in the form of an array constant {80, 76,72}.
   An array constant is a hard-coded set of values in an Excel formula, appearing in curly braces {}.
2. Then the array constant is used as an argument in the AVERAGE formula.

Relative Functions:

• Excel DEVSQ Function
  The DEVSQ function calculates the sum of squares of the deviations from the sample mean.

• Excel DSTDEV Function
  The DSTDEV function returns the estimated value of the standard deviation of a population based on a sample.

• Excel DSTDEVP Function
  The Excel DSTDEVP function returns the standard deviation of a population by using the numbers from the entire database that match the given criteria you specify.