Excel formula question

I have an Excel spreadsheet with 3 columns of various numbers. I am calculating an average of these numbers with the following formula:

=(SUM(C5:C100)+SUM(F5:F100)+SUM(I5:I100))/25

My question is, how can I change the average each time I add another number to a column so that I don’t have to change the averaging number, “/25”?

Bit confused here. Are you summing up 285 numbers (95 per column, x 3 columns) and then dividing the result by 25? How is that an average?

At the present time, the three columns have only 25 numbers and I add more numbers to each column each day. Right now, my average is 131.36. When I add one more number to a column, I will divide by 26 etc… I want the division to increase by one automatically each time I add a number to a column.

Oh, okay. In that case, try:

=AVERAGE(C5:C100, F5:F100, I5:I100)

:smack: I should have know that it was an easy solution. I am still learning Excel, so I really appreciate quick knowlegeable answers. I didn’t know about the average command. Many thanks!

Sure thing :slight_smile:

By the way, you might want to try Excel’s built-in help the next time you run into a problem. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t ask questions here, but Excel is one of the few programs that actually has decent help. The documentation is excellent, actually, and it’s proven very very helpful for me in the past. Microsoft does a really good job with their help files.

I was just thinking that most programs offer little help, so that is why I came to SD for advice. Never fails here!

FYI: There are also a number of commands to count the number of cells that have values/numbers/blank, etc.

  • I agree that the help program can be helpful.
  • Also: i’ve found some amazing formula help googling for excel info.