Excel Toolkit / Function guides
AVERAGE in Excel: explanation and examples
Find a typical numeric value: total divided by the number of numbers. Start with one direct calculation.
These examples use the Moon Energy teaching case. All businesses and data are fictional. They are learning examples, not financial or tax advice.
Microsoft’s definition
Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of the arguments.
Read the AVERAGE function reference on Microsoft Support
Three ways to understand AVERAGE
Transactional finance
Moon Energy’s finance team is reviewing opening-period supplier bill amounts and a comparison budget.
Find the average observation.
| Row | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site code | Site type | Bill net GBP | Budget | |
| 2 | S01 | Hospital | £32,439.68 | £29,195.71 | |
| 3 | S02 | Office | £7,420.00 | £6,678.00 | |
| 4 | S03 | Office | £6,128.42 | £5,515.58 | |
| 5 | S04 | Retail | £3,216.42 | £2,894.78 | |
| 6 | S05 | Retail | £3,771.49 | £3,394.34 |
Formula: =AVERAGE(C2:C6)
Result for this sample: £10,595.20
Business operations
Moon Energy’s operations team is reviewing site electricity readings and a comparison consumption budget.
Find the average observation.
| Row | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Site code | Site type | Electricity kWh | Budget | |
| 2 | S01 | Hospital | 143695 | 129325.5 | |
| 3 | S02 | Office | 32000 | 28800 | |
| 4 | S03 | Office | 26234 | 23610.6 | |
| 5 | S04 | Retail | 13234 | 11910.6 | |
| 6 | S05 | Retail | 15712 | 14140.8 |
Formula: =AVERAGE(C2:C6)
Result for this sample: 46,175
Abstract
Moon Energy’s orbital stations hold photon-cell reserves. Their controller compares current reserves with planned reserves.
Find the average observation.
| Row | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Station code | Station class | Photon cells | Budget | |
| 2 | S01 | Hospital | 14500 | 13050 | |
| 3 | S02 | Office | 3200 | 2880 | |
| 4 | S03 | Office | 2600 | 2340 | |
| 5 | S04 | Retail | 1300 | 1170 | |
| 6 | S05 | Retail | 1600 | 1440 |
Formula: =AVERAGE(C2:C6)
Result for this sample: 4,640
Experiment in Formula Lab
Open AVERAGE in the interactive Formula Lab →
The practice engine supports a focused subset of Excel behavior. Lookups are exact-match only; it does not support all Excel functions, dates, arrays or workbook imports. Read the limits shown in Formula Lab before interpreting a result.