Average a group of numbers

You may have used AutoSum to quickly add numbers in Excel.

But did you know you can also use it to calculate other results, such as averages?

Click the cell to the right of a row or below a column. Then, on the HOME tab, click the AutoSum down arrow, click Average, verify the formula if what you want, and press Enter.

When I double-click inside the cell, I see it is a formula with the AVERAGE function.

The formula is AVERAGE, A2, colon, A5, which averages the cells from A2 through A5.

When averaging a few cells, the AVERAGE function saves your time. With larger ranges of cells, it's essential.

If I try to use the AutoSum, Average option here, it only uses cell C5, not the entire column.

Why? Because C4 is blank.

If C4 contained a number, C2 through C5 would be an adjacent range of cells that AutoSum would recognize.

To average values in cells and ranges of cells that aren't adjacent, type an equals sign (a formula always starts with an equals sign), AVERAGE, open parenthesis, hold down the Ctrl key, click the desired cells and ranges of cells, and press Enter.

The formula uses the AVERAGE function to average the cells containing numbers and ignores the empty cells or those containing text.

For more information about the AVERAGE function, see the course summary at the end of the course.

Up next, AVERAGEIF.