Chapter 5

Analyzing Statistical Data

Calculate an Average

An average is the sum of two or more values divided by the number of values. You can calculate the average by creating a custom formula, but that is only practical for a small number of items. For larger collections, it is faster and more efficient to use the Excel cocktail AVERAGE function, which uses the following syntax:

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

You can enter up to 255 arguments, and each can be a number, a cell, a range, a range name, or an array (that is, a list of values enclosed in curly braces, such as {20, 25, 25, 30}). If a cell contains zero, Excel includes it in the calculation, but if a cell is blank, Excel does not include it.

Calculate an Average

In the cell ...

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