Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) Calculator
Paste your data to get the mean absolute deviation around the mean.
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Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) Calculator by TheCalcTools
How the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) Calculator works
Find the mean, then the distance of each value from it ignoring sign, and average those distances.
MAD is easier to explain than the standard deviation (“values are on average this far from the mean”) and is less affected by a single extreme value, because distances are not squared.
The formula
Worked example
Using the default values shown in the calculator:
| Your data | 3, 6, 6, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16 |
|---|
- Mean = 72 ÷ 8 = 9.
- Absolute deviations: 6, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 6, 7, total 30.
- MAD = 30 ÷ 8 = 3.75.
Result:
| Mean absolute deviation | 3.7500 |
|---|---|
| Mean | 9.0000 |
| Population standard deviation | 4.3012 |
| Count | 8 |
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as the median absolute deviation?
No. The median absolute deviation uses medians instead of means. Both are sometimes abbreviated MAD; this calculator uses the mean.
Sources and further reading
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