Statistics Calculator
Statistics Calculator - a browser-based student tools utility.
Browser tool
About Statistics Calculator
Mean, median, mode, range, quartiles and standard deviation for a list of numbers, in one pass and with the working shown — because a summary statistic you cannot check is a summary statistic you cannot defend. Free, with no subscription anywhere. The summary is computed locally from numbers you keep control of.
How to use it
- Paste the dataValues separated by commas, spaces or newlines all parse. Blank entries and stray whitespace are discarded rather than counted as zero.
- Read the whole summaryEvery measure at once, which is what makes it possible to notice when they disagree.
- Check the workingThe intermediate values are shown, so the result can be verified against a textbook example.
When mean and median disagree, believe the median
The mean is pulled by extreme values and the median is not. If they are close, the distribution is roughly symmetric and the mean is a fair summary. If the mean is well above the median, a few large values are dragging it up — which is why average income is always higher than typical income, and why quoting the mean for a skewed distribution is the oldest honest-looking way to mislead with statistics.
What it does not do
- Summary statistics hide the shape of the data. Distributions with wildly different forms can share a mean and a standard deviation, so look at the numbers as well as the summary.
- Quartile calculation has several accepted definitions that give slightly different answers on small sets. A difference from another tool is usually this rather than an error.
Questions people ask
- Which average should I report?
- The median for skewed data such as incomes, house prices or response times. The mean when the distribution is roughly symmetric and every value should carry equal weight. Reporting both is better than choosing the flattering one.
- Why is there no mode for my data?
- Because no value repeats, which is common with continuous measurements. Mode is meaningful for categories and for rounded data; for a set of unique decimals it has nothing to say.
Questions about ToolsVerse itself — privacy, cost, what happens to your files — are answered in the frequently asked questions.
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