Python statistics mean()

The statistics.mean function in Python's statistics module is used to calculate the arithmetic mean (average) of a given set of numbers. This function is useful for finding the central value of a dataset.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. statistics.mean Function Syntax
3. Examples
   • Basic Usage
   • Mean of a List of Numbers
   • Mean of a Tuple of Numbers
   • Handling Different Types of Numeric Data
4. Real-World Use Case
5. Conclusion

Introduction

The statistics.mean function is part of the statistics module, which provides functions for mathematical statistics of numeric data. The mean is the sum of the data divided by the number of data points.

statistics.mean Function Syntax

Here's how you use the statistics.mean function:

import statistics

mean_value = statistics.mean(data)

Parameters:

• data: A sequence or iterable of numeric data (list, tuple, etc.).

Returns:

• The arithmetic mean of the given data.

Raises:

• StatisticsError: If data is empty.

Examples

Basic Usage

Calculate the mean of a list of numbers.

import statistics

data = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
mean_value = statistics.mean(data)
print(f"Mean: {mean_value}")

Output:

Mean: 3

Mean of a List of Numbers

Calculate the mean of a list of integers.

import statistics

numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
mean_value = statistics.mean(numbers)
print(f"Mean of numbers: {mean_value}")

Output:

Mean of numbers: 30

Mean of a Tuple of Numbers

Calculate the mean of a tuple of floats.

import statistics

numbers = (1.5, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5)
mean_value = statistics.mean(numbers)
print(f"Mean of numbers: {mean_value}")

Output:

Mean of numbers: 3.5

Handling Different Types of Numeric Data

Calculate the mean of a mixed list of integers and floats.

import statistics

numbers = [1, 2.5, 3, 4.5, 5]
mean_value = statistics.mean(numbers)
print(f"Mean of numbers: {mean_value}")

Output:

Mean of numbers: 3.2

Real-World Use Case

Calculating the Average Score

Calculate the average score of students in a class.

import statistics

scores = [85, 90, 78, 92, 88, 76, 95, 89]
average_score = statistics.mean(scores)
print(f"Average score: {average_score}")

Output:

Average score: 86.625

Conclusion

The statistics.mean function is a simple and effective way to calculate the arithmetic mean of a set of numbers in Python. It can handle different types of numeric data and is useful in various real-world scenarios where calculating the average is needed. This function makes it easy to find the central value of a dataset, which is a common requirement in data analysis and statistics.