What is the Mean?

The mean, also known as the arithmetic average, is a measure of central tendency that represents the typical value in a dataset. It's calculated by adding all values and dividing by the number of values.

Mean Formula

Mean = (x₁ + x₂ + x₃ + ... + xₙ) / n

Where x₁, x₂, x₃, ... xₙ are the individual values and n is the total number of values.

When to Use the Mean

When you need a single value to represent the center of your data
For normally distributed data without extreme outliers
When calculating other statistics like variance and standard deviation
For comparing different datasets or groups

Example Calculation

For the dataset [2, 4, 6, 8, 10]:
Mean = (2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10) ÷ 5 = 30 ÷ 5 = 6