How it works.
AVERAGE calculates the arithmetic mean of a range of cells. It sums up all numeric values in the specified range and divides the sum by the count of those numeric values.
💡 In simple terms.
Calculates the average (arithmetic mean) of a group of numbers.
Analogy
"Think of this like sharing cookies equally. If you pool all cookies together and divide them equally, you get the average cookies per person."
Syntax guide.
=AVERAGE(number1, [number2], ...)
Parameters
number1Required
The first number, cell reference, or range you want to average.
number2Optional
Additional numbers or ranges to average.
Interactive formula builder.
Fill in the input arguments below to construct your custom formula string. Copy it directly to paste into your Excel spreadsheets.
Generated Output
Best Practices
- Empty cells or cells with text are completely ignored by AVERAGE when computing the mean.
- Cells with a value of 0 ARE included in the average.
Common Gotchas
- If your range contains error values, AVERAGE will return the error. Be careful when text representations of numbers are used, as they are ignored.