# 2.63 FAQ-616 What are the different methods to calculate average value in Origin?

Last Update: 10/2/2015

There are several ways to obtain an average value or average dataset.

## Quick Stats Reported to the Status Bar

When you select a range of cells in the worksheet a few quick statistics, including the average value, are reported to the Status Bar at the bottom of the Origin workspace. Right-click to choose reported statistics from a shortcut menu, or copy them to the Clipboard. For more information see The Status Bar.

## The Average Value of a Column

The average value for a particular column can be obtained by selecting Statistics:Descriptive Statistics:Statistics on Columns from the Origin menu. Once calculated, Origin reports the results to a new worksheet. The average for each selected column is placed into a separate cell in the Mean column.

For details, see The Statistics on Columns Dialog Box.

## The Average Value Across Rows

To obtain the average value for a series of rows of data in a worksheet, select Statistics:Descriptive Statistics:Statistics on Rows. By default, Origin places the results in new columns in the original worksheet immediately to the right of the selected data.

For details, see The Statistics on Rows Dialog Box.

## The Average Value Using the Mean Function

Define a dataset (e.g. column A) and its average value will be returned by the LabTalk function Mean(). For example:

Mean(col(A));

## The Average Value for a Portion (Region-of-Interest) of a Data Plot

You can obtain an statistics (including the mean value) of a selected portion of a line, line+symbol, scatter or column plot using the Statistics Gadget.

For details, see The Statistics Gadget.

## The Average Dataset For a Group of Data Plots

When calculating the average of multiple curves (Analysis:Mathematics:Average Multiple Curves), Origin adds the average curve as a green line plot to the layer contents of the active graph window. To access the data, double-click on the average curve to open the Plot Details dialog box and click on the Worksheet button.

For details, see Average Multiple Curves

Keywords:Simple Math, Descriptive Statistics, mean, Statistics on Columns, Statistics on Rows, averaging curves