EXCEL · DATA SKILLS
Calculate the mean
Browse Excel lessons
- Excel for basic data analysis
- Cells and ranges
- Columns and readable headings
- Enter and edit cells
- Share files and embed objects
- Fill a series
- Save a practice copy
- Prepare data for analysis
- Dates and number formats
- Variables and score definitions
- Enter and check practice data
- Insert and delete rows
- AutoSum and totals
- Copy formulas with relative references
- Calculate the mean
- Calculate standard deviation
- Excel references and next steps
In B11, enter =AVERAGE(B5:B9). Fill across through D11. Expected means are 3.40, 3.20, and 3.60.
Use only raw score rows 5–9. Including the Total row would produce an incorrect mean. AVERAGE ignores blank cells but includes numeric zero; missing data and a genuine zero are different. Use =COUNT(B5:B9) to check the number of numeric observations (5 in this example).
Show two decimal places using the number format instead of replacing the underlying result with typed rounded text.
Reference: Microsoft Support. Menu names may vary by platform and update.