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Python – Find Average of values in a List

Lists are a very versatile data structure in Python. When working with a list of numbers, it can be helpful to know how to calculate the mean of list values quickly. For example, you have a list of test scores and want to know what the average score was for the test. In this tutorial, we will look at how to get the average of a list in Python with the help of some examples.

Average of values in a List

You can use a combination of Python sum() and len() functions to compute the mean of a list. Alternatively, you can also use methods defined in libraries such as statistics, numpy, etc. to get the average of a list of values.

Let’s look at the above-mentioned methods with the help of examples.

To compute the mean of a list, you can use the sum() function to get the sum of the values in the list and divide that with the length of the list returned from the len() function.

# create a list
ls = [1,2,3,4]
# average of list
sum(ls) / len(ls)

Output:

2.5

We get 2.5 as the average for the list above list of values.

You can also use the statistics standard library in Python to get the mean of a list. Pass the list as an argument to the statistics.mean() function.

import statistics

# create a list
ls = [1,2,3,4]
# average of list
statistics.mean(ls)

Output:

2.5

We get the same result as above.

For more on the statistics library, refer to its documentation.

You can also use the numpy library to get the list average. Numpy has a number of useful functions for working with arrays in Python.

import numpy as np

# create a list
ls = [1,2,3,4]
# average of list
np.mean(ls)

Output:

2.5

We get 2.5 as the average.

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Author

  • Piyush Raj

    Piyush is a data professional passionate about using data to understand things better and make informed decisions. He has experience working as a Data Scientist in the consulting domain and holds an engineering degree from IIT Roorkee. His hobbies include watching cricket, reading, and working on side projects.