How Can I Efficiently Calculate the Arithmetic Mean of a List in Python?

Finding the Arithmetic Mean of a List in Python: Tips and Best Practices

Calculating the average of a list is a fundamental task in data analysis and can be easily accomplished using Python's standard library. Here's a comprehensive guide to finding the arithmetic mean, also known as the average, of a list in Python:

Python 3.8 :

• For optimal numerical stability when dealing with floating-point numbers, use the statistics.fmean function.

Python 3.4 :

• While still providing numerical stability for floats, statistics.mean is a slightly slower option than fmean.

For Older Versions of Python 3 and Python 2:

• Calculate the mean using the following formulas:

  • Python 3: sum(xs) / len(xs)
  • Python 2: sum(xs) / float(len(xs)) (convert len to a float to ensure float division)

Example:

Consider the list [15, 18, 2, 36, 12, 78, 5, 6, 9]:

import statistics

mean = statistics.mean([15, 18, 2, 36, 12, 78, 5, 6, 9])

print(mean)  # 20.11111111111111

By using the appropriate functions and techniques, you can efficiently and accurately find the mean of a list in Python, ensuring the stability and accuracy of your results.

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