AVERAGE, MIN and MAX

In this lesson

• AVERAGE to find the average of a group of numbers
• MIN to find the smallest number
• MAX to find the largest number
• The pattern all three formulas share
• Four common beginner mistakes to watch for

The example used in the video

Five test scores, typed into cells B2 to B6. You can use marks, sales figures, expenses, hours worked, or any other set of numbers.

The ideas behind this lesson

AVERAGE

AVERAGE tells you the average value of a group of numbers. You may also hear people call this the mean. A simple way to think of it: what is the typical value across these numbers?

Click the cell where you want the answer, type =AVERAGE(, select the cells from B2 down to B6, close the bracket and press Enter. The complete formula is =AVERAGE(B2:B6). The colon means everything from B2 through to B6.

Excel adds the numbers together and divides the total by how many values there are. For the five scores above, the average is 76.

You can type the range yourself, or highlight the cells with your mouse and let Excel insert the range for you. Both give the same answer, so use whichever feels easier.

MIN

MIN stands for minimum. It finds the smallest number in a group of values. The formula is =MIN(B2:B6), and for these scores the answer is 65. Useful for the lowest test score, the lowest sale, the lowest expense or the lowest temperature.

MAX

MAX stands for maximum. It does the opposite of MIN and finds the largest number. The formula is =MAX(B2:B6), and for these scores the answer is 88.

The pattern to remember

All three formulas follow the same pattern. Start with an equals sign, type the function name, open the brackets, and tell Excel which cells to calculate. The function name changes but the structure stays the same. You will see this pattern again and again in Excel.

Four common beginner mistakes

• Forgetting the equals sign. Without it, Excel may treat what you type as normal text.
• Forgetting the brackets. AVERAGE, MIN and MAX all need an opening and a closing bracket.
• Selecting the wrong cells. Check that the range covers the numbers you actually want. B2:B6 means everything from B2 to B6.
• Including the heading. If the column has a heading such as “Test Score”, select the numbers underneath it, not the heading itself.

Try it yourself

The second example in the video uses weekly sales in cells C2 to C6.

Work out the average with =AVERAGE(C2:C6), the lowest figure with =MIN(C2:C6) and the highest with =MAX(C2:C6).

Check your answers: average 170, lowest 120, highest 210.