Statistics Calculator

How to use the Statistics Calculator

1. Enter your numbers separated by commas, spaces, or line breaks.
2. The calculator instantly computes all descriptive statistics for your data set.
3. Review measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), spread (standard deviation, variance, range), and position (quartiles, min, max).
4. Use both population and sample standard deviation depending on whether your data represents an entire population or a sample.

Why mean and median can tell very different stories

Mean is sensitive to every value in a data set, including outliers. This is exactly why "average household income" is almost always meaningfully higher than "median household income": a small number of very high earners pull the mean upward, while the median (the middle value) isn't affected by how extreme the top values are, only by their relative position. When a data set has extreme outliers or is heavily skewed, median generally gives a more representative picture of a "typical" value than mean does.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between standard deviation and variance?

Variance is the average of squared deviations from the mean; standard deviation is simply its square root, which puts the measure back into the same units as the original data. This is why standard deviation is generally the more directly interpretable of the two.

When should I use median instead of mean?

When your data set has outliers or is skewed (income, home prices, response times with occasional extreme delays), median resists distortion from extreme values in a way mean doesn't.

Does it handle large data sets pasted directly in?

Yes, paste a full column of numbers rather than entering them one at a time. The calculator parses the full set and computes every statistic at once.