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Getting an average of two columns in Excel

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@md0Cer

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Location
Denver, CO
I feel really stupid asking two of these horrific types of questions in a day, but I have spent a great deal of time through google, the help feature, and books. I think it is time to ask. :(

I am trying to average two columns of data to get a third. Here is an example:

A B C
5 4
2 2
3 4
3 4
6 3
7 3
4 7
5 8
6 6
7 4
4 9
5 4
6 1
7 9
3 7
1 5
3 6
8 4
9 9

Is there a way I can get it to average the number in A and the number in B and display it in C? What about if I had more, could I get it to average the number in A, B, C, and D and get it to display in E?

On top of that, could I also get an average for all the numbers together?

Thanks a bunch guys.
 
put this into C1 =AVERAGE(A1,B1)
that would avg A1 and B1

if you want several colums use =AVERAGE(A1:C1)
that would avg A1 to C1
 
Great! Thanks.

EDIT: Hmm, I still can't get that to work. Plus, I think even if I got that to work, wouldn't it just do the data in A1 to B1 to C1? I have these huge ones that go down to about 100.
 
figured it out yet? if not, this is what i do..

say you have data in columns a, b, and c, and you want to put the average of abc into column d.
a b c d
1 2 3

in cell (square) D1, type:

=average(

then with your mouse, select and highlight cells (squares) A1, B1, and C1. They should be surrounded by the dancing dotted line. When that's done, type

)

to close it off, then hit enter. Hence, cell D1 should read

=average(A1:C1)

so in my example, my excel sheet would read

a b c d
1 2 3 2

Now, to apply that to all the cells, you can just CTRL-C (copy) on cell D1, highlight the cells in column D that you want to average, then CTRL-V (paste).
Since you have about 100 rows in the column, I'd do it this way.

OR, if you notice when you highlight cell D1, there's a square on the bottom right of that cell. If you hover your mouse over it, the mouse icon changes from a big fat white cross, to a smaller black skinny cross. When the icon changes, click and drag down your mouse, then let go. It's the same thing as copy paste.
 
cool :)0 there are other math functions you can use. use "help" in excel to search for "functions", and it'll give you a whole bunch! lemme know if you need anything else. when i started off with excel a couple years ago i didn't have a clue, other than the spreadsheets reminded me of graph paper. heheh.
 
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