Mean (Arithmetic Mean)

Sum of all values divided by their count — the most common measure of central tendency.

Also known as: arithmetic mean, average, μ, x̄

The mean is the primary measure of location of a distribution. It answers the question "Where is the centre of my data?".

Unlike the median, the mean is sensitive to outliers — a single extreme value can shift it noticeably. For strongly skewed distributions the median is often the more informative location measure.

See also

Used in

In the Algorithm Lab

Sources

  • Montgomery, D.C.: Introduction to Statistical Quality Control, 8th ed., Wiley, 2020 — Kap. 3
  • DIN ISO 3534-1: Statistik — Begriffe und Formelzeichen, Teil 1