1. What is Average Rating?

The average rating is a measure of central tendency calculated by summing all individual ratings and dividing by the number of ratings. It provides a simple way to understand the overall evaluation of an item, product, or service.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the average rating formula:

Where:

• \( \sum \text{ratings} \) — Sum of all individual ratings
• \( n \) — Number of ratings

Explanation: The formula calculates the arithmetic mean of all provided ratings, giving equal weight to each rating.

3. Importance of Average Rating

Details: Average ratings are widely used in e-commerce, app stores, and review platforms to provide a quick summary of user satisfaction. They help consumers make decisions and businesses track performance.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter ratings as comma-separated values (e.g., "4,5,3,4,5"). The calculator will ignore non-numeric values and calculate the average of valid numbers.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What's the difference between average and median rating?
A: Average sums all ratings and divides by count, while median is the middle value when ratings are sorted. Median is less affected by extreme values.

Q2: What's a good average rating?
A: This depends on context. For 5-star systems, 4+ is generally good, while 3 is average, and below 2 is poor.

Q3: How many ratings are needed for a reliable average?
A: More ratings increase reliability. A minimum of 10-20 ratings is recommended for stable averages.

Q4: Should I round average ratings?
A: Typically yes, to 1 decimal place for precision while remaining readable (e.g., 4.3 stars).

Q5: What if I have weighted ratings?
A: This calculator uses simple average. For weighted averages, each rating would need to be multiplied by its weight before summing.