Average

<p>In <a href="/facts/Colloquial/HvEweYjS">ordinary</a> language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the <a href="/facts/Arithmetic_mean/L3Pv333o">arithmetic mean</a> –  the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list. For example, the mean or average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9 (summing to 25) is 5. Depending on the context, the most representative <a href="/facts/Statistics/DNPsKGYU">statistic</a> to be taken as the average might be another measure of <a href="/facts/Central_tendency/9yhcQ6me">central tendency</a>, such as the <a href="/facts/Mid-range/B4XTaulj">mid-range</a>, <a href="/facts/Median/YwXGWTyr">median</a>, <a href="/facts/Mode_(statistics)/vq5tGp0G">mode</a> or <a href="/facts/Geometric_mean/6Nf6uk1A">geometric mean</a>. For example, the average <a href="/facts/Income/T1B63U7z">personal income</a> is often given as the median –  the number below which are 50% of personal incomes and above which are 50% of personal incomes –  because the <a href="/facts/Mean/swcEd4Pg">mean</a> would be higher by including personal incomes from a few <a href="/facts/Billionaire/7goIqHHJ">billionaires</a>.
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Average