📏 Mean Absolute Deviation Calculator
Enter your data values (leave extra boxes blank if you have fewer than 10) to calculate the mean absolute deviation.
What is Mean Absolute Deviation?
Mean absolute deviation (MAD) measures, on average, how far each value in a data set is from the mean. It’s one of the simplest ways to describe how spread out a set of numbers is, and it’s easier to interpret in plain terms than variance because it stays in the same units as the original data.
The Formula
MAD = (Σ |xᵢ − mean|) / n, where each value’s distance from the mean is taken as a positive number (absolute value), added up, and divided by the number of values.
- Enter at least one value; leave unused boxes blank.
- A larger MAD means the data is more spread out.
Provided for general statistical education and exploratory data analysis.
Last reviewed August 2026