Descriptive Statistics Calculator
Mean, Median, SD, IQR and More

What Does a Descriptive Statistics Calculator Compute?

A descriptive statistics calculator takes a dataset as input and outputs a complete summary of its distribution — measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), measures of spread (standard deviation, variance, range, IQR), and positional measures (quartiles, percentiles). These are the foundational statistics required in almost every quantitative research course.

Descriptive statistics appear early in every stats course, and errors in these calculations compound throughout subsequent analyses. Getting the standard deviation wrong affects hypothesis tests and confidence intervals. This calculator shows every step so you can verify where a calculation goes and catch errors in your own work.

Statistics Calculated

Mean

The arithmetic mean is the sum of all values divided by n. It’s the most common measure of central tendency and is sensitive to outliers.

Median

The middle value when data is sorted. For odd n, it’s the single middle value. For even n, it’s the average of the two middle values. More robust to outliers than the mean.

Standard Deviation and Variance

Variance is the average squared deviation from the mean. Standard deviation is its square root. The solver uses the sample formula (dividing by n−1) by default, which is appropriate for inferential statistics.

IQR and Quartiles

Q1 is the 25th percentile, Q3 is the 75th percentile, and the IQR = Q3 − Q1. Values more than 1.5×IQR below Q1 or above Q3 are potential outliers.