average values

[confusedexceler]

hello,
i am trying to calculate averages using excel's median and avarag
calculations but after multiple attampts>with no luck!.
I have values in 409 cells with only one or two gaps between cells
when i use the two sums described above i get very different values
and also i get a different answer when i manually calculate.
any advice on the best and most accurate sum to use?
Thanks for any help

 

[Trevor Shuttleworth]

You would not expect the answers to be the same. The median returns the
middle value in a set of numbers. If you had, say, thirteen numbers and
sorted them into ascending order, the median would give you the seventh
number. The average adds the thirteen numbers together and divides by
thirteen.

So: 1,4,5,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,4. Average = 2.615385; median = 3

Regards

Trevor

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It's not surprising that median and average would be different. Which is
"best" depends on what you're trying to determine. Average, Median and
Mode are all measures of central tendency, and all have their "best"
applications.

If you're finding that AVERAGE() or MEDIAN() doesn't calculate
"correctly" in comparison with your manual calcs, check that some of
your values aren't Text (a common problem when you paste data in from
another source). Format the cells as General (or another number format),
select a blank cell, copy it, select your numbers, and choose Edit/Paste
Special, selecting the Values and Add radio buttons. This will coerce
any Text values to numbers.