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Excel AVERAGE Practice Question: Two students were absent, so their marks are blank. Using AVERAGE, find the…

By Rinkesh Shah, founder of Cellgrids.

The question

Two students were absent, so their marks are blank. Using AVERAGE, find the average of the students who appeared and put it in B8.

The data

	A	B
1	Student	Marks
2	Asha	72
3	Bilal
4	Chitra	64
5	Dinesh
6	Esha	80
7	Farhan
8	Average	?

The yellow cell is where your answer goes.

Show answer

Answer in B8: 72

How it works

Explanation: AVERAGE ignores blank cells, so only the marks that exist are counted. Blanks do not pull the average down.
Syntax: =AVERAGE(B2:B7)
Only 72, 64 and 80 are counted: (72 + 64 + 80) / 3 = 216 / 3 = 72. Note: a typed 0 would be counted, but a blank is not.

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AVERAGE syntax

=AVERAGE(number1, [number2], ...)

Finds the mean of a set of numbers. AVERAGE is used in financial models and engineering-style calculations where precise numeric work is needed. Full AVERAGE guide.