problem with inaccurate result with AVERAGE

Hi

I am using Excel 2003 for a montly cost analysis and having trouble with AVERAGE.

Simple explanation.

column E contains hours
column F contains dollars
column G calculates dollars per hour

cell G1 calculates the average of G3:Gxxx

cell Exx calculates the sum of column E
cell Fxx calculates the sum of column F

cell H10 divides Fxx by Exx and should be equal to G1 But it is NOT. In fact it is over 5% different, even with a sheet with only 9 rows in it.

What am I doing wrong here?

Excel 2003

It is because the average that you calculate in cell G10 is "weighted" by the number of hours at each rate, and the average calculation in cell G1 is just based on the total number of jobs (9)

So it depends on what you are looking for, do you want a true average of rate per hour, cell G10 - or do you want an average rate per job (cell G1)

Both answers are corrrect, this is how numbers can be twisted to suit your needs / objectives


HTH


Lee

Thank you.

That makes sense and now I can see what the numbers are telling me.

I've had the spreadsheets set up like this for a few months now, adding in the manual pages from the history files, and I just not see what I was doing wrong. I can understand why this is telling me two different stories.

Another day.... another something learned.

Tanx much