What is the mean?
Year 6 calculates and interprets the mean as an average. Below: what it means, a worked example, the mistake to watch for and an 11+ question.
The answer
The mean is an average: add up all the numbers, then divide by how many numbers there are.
What it means
The mean shares the total out equally. If four friends score 4, 7, 9 and 10, the mean is what each would score if the points were shared evenly.
When people say "the average", they usually mean the mean. The median and the mode are averages too.
A worked example
Find the mean of 4, 7, 9 and 10
- Add them: 4 + 7 + 9 + 10 = 30.
- There are 4 numbers, so divide by 4: 30 ÷ 4 = 7.5.
The common mistake
Leaving out zeros when counting. For scores of 5, 0 and 7 the mean is 12 ÷ 3 = 4, not 12 ÷ 2 = 6: the 0 is still a score.
How it comes up in the 11+
The mean of four numbers is 9. Three of them are 6, 8 and 11. What is the fourth number?
Answer: 11
- If the mean of 4 numbers is 9, their total is 4 × 9 = 36.
- The three you know add up to 6 + 8 + 11 = 25.
- The fourth number is 36 − 25 = 11.
Try it yourself
It opens on 4, 7, 9 and 10, the numbers in the worked example, with the mean worked out step by step. Type your own list to try another.
Type a list of numbers to see the mean, median, mode and range, each with its working.
Related words and practice
More maths words
Questions parents ask
Is the mean the same as the average?
The mean is one of three averages, with the median and the mode. When people say "the average" they usually mean the mean.
Can the mean be a decimal?
Yes, even when every number is whole. The mean of 4, 7, 9 and 10 is 7.5.
Knowing the words is half of an 11+ maths question
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