Averages

What is an average?

The term average can be defined as the middle value of a set of numbers. The average is also called the mean. The average of a set of numbers is calculated by adding all the numbers and then dividing by how many numbers there are. Look at the examples below.

Example #1: Find the average of the following numbers:

11, 13, 15, 9

First we must add all the numbers to find the total value:

11+13+15+9 = 48

Next we must divide the the total value by the number of items we have. Since we have 4 numbers we divide the total value by 4.

48 ÷ 4 = 12

Therefore we can say that the average of the four numbers is 12.

Example #2: Jervonte has $20. Kimaney has $25. Khari has $21. What is the average amount of money the three boys have?

Total value = $20 + $25 + $21 = $66

Average amount of money = $66 ÷ 3 = $22

The average amount of money the three boys have is $22.

Example #3: Michael picked 17 mangoes on Monday, 23 mangoes on Tuesday, 19 mangoes on Wednesday, 14 mangoes on Thursday and 7 mangoes on Friday. What is the average number of mangoes Michael picked each day?

Total number of mangoes = 17 + 23 + 19 + 14 + 7 = 80 mangoes

Average number of mangoes = 80 ÷ 5 = 16 mangoes

The average number of mangoes picked = 16 mangoes

So we can say that in order to calculate the average of a set of items, we simply add the value of the all the items and then divide by the number of items.