what is the weighted average and the course total

by Jasen Casper 7 min read

Weighted average differs from finding the normal average of a data set because the total reflects that some pieces of the data hold more “weight,” or more significance, than others or occur more frequently. You can calculate the weighted average of a set of numbers by multiplying each value in the set by its weight, then adding up the products.

The average, or arithmetic mean, of a series of items means you simply add up all the item values and divide by the total number of items to calculate the average. A weighted average, also known as a weighted mean, is an average where each value has a specific weight or frequency assigned to it.May 11, 2022

Full Answer

How does the weighted average calculator work?

The calculations behind our weighted average calculator are quite simple. Instead of just summing up all the grades and then dividing them by the total number of grades (which would get the basic average), each grade is multiplied by weight and then summed up and this time divided by the total weight or credits, as explained below:

What is'weighted average'?

What is 'Weighted Average'. Weighted average is an average in which each observation in the data set is assigned or multiplied by a weight before summing to a single average value. In this process, each quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight that determines the relative importance of each quantity.

Is a weighted average more accurate than a simple average?

A weighted average is sometimes more accurate than a simple average. Stock investors use a weighted average to track the cost basis of shares bought at varying times.

How do you calculate a weighted average course?

How to calculate your Weighted Average MarkAdd up all credits for subjects where you have gained a result. This includes failing scores.For each subject completed, multiply the subject's credits by the final result score. a. ... Divide the total reached in 2a by the total credits. This will give you your WAM.

What is course weighted average?

A Course Weighted Average is a calculation of a students average of results for Grade/Mark units for all units in a course, including units credited as Automatic Credit or Designated Credit. The calculation is based on the mark and the credit value of the unit.

What is a total weighted average?

The total weighted average of a series of numbers is the average resulting from multiplying each number by a factor that typically represents its importance or frequency. Before calculating a weighted average, you must decide on the values to assign each number.

How do you find the weighted total?

You can figure a weighted total by performing a few simple calculations. Divide the number of points that a student earned on an assignment by the total possible points for that assignment. For instance, if the student earned 22 out of 25 points on a test, divide 22 by 25 to get 0.88.

Is 73 a good WAM?

WAM of 80 or more, Honours First Class (H1) WAM of 70-79, Honours Class 2A (H2A) WAM of 60-69, Honours Class 2B (H2B) WAM of 50-59, pass.

Is course weighted average the same as GPA?

Your WAM will be the average of the actual marks you achieved in all units of your course and is a mark out of 100. WAM also incorporates ALL marks, including those from a fail grade ie 35, 46 etc, whereas GPA gives a calculation of zero for any fail grades.

What is weighted average with example?

For example, say an investor acquires 100 shares of a company in year one at $10, and 50 shares of the same stock in year two at $40. To get a weighted average of the price paid, the investor multiplies 100 shares by $10 for year one and 50 shares by $40 for year two, and then adds the results to get a total of $3,000.

How do I calculate my final grade with weighted percentages?

Multiply the grade on the assignment by the grade weight. In the example, 85 times 20 percent equals 17 and 100 times 80 percent equals 80.

When should you use a weighted average?

Use caseThe reason to use a weighted average instead of a simple average is when one wants to calculate an average which will be based on different or various percentage values for many categories.The second case will be when one has a group of observations where each will have a frequency associated along with it.

What is the difference between weighted total and total?

Weighted Total vs. Total: the two columns are created by default in every Blackboard space. The Total column shows the number of points attained out of the total possible. The Weighted Total shows the current total as determined by the weighting scheme set in the Edit Column Information page as above.

How do you calculate class average?

Examples of Averages Suppose six students scored 72, 75, 78, 82, 84, and 92 on a test. To calculate the average, add the test scores together and divide the sum (483) by six. The average score would be 80.5. Anyone with basic math skills can determine an average.

How do I calculate weighted average percentage?

To calculate a weighted average with percentages, each category value must first be multiplied by its percentage. Then all of these new values must be added together. In this example, we must multiply the student's average on all tests (83) by the percentage that the tests are worth towards the final grade (40%).

How do I find a weighted average?

If you have the numbers 3, 5, and 10, to take a normal average, it would be 3+5+10, divided by the total number of data points—in this case 3. For...

I scored a 50 and a 70 on 2 tests worth 50% each. I scored 100 on 2 homeworks worth 25% each, and 7 ...

In this case, your weights add up to 1.75, or 175%. To find your score, first add up the individual scores multiplied by their weights: 50(.5) + 70...

What is the formula for the average of scores?

That depends on whether the total weights of the scores add up to 100%. If so, then you would multiply each score (x) by its percentage of the tota...

When to use weighted average?

There are two main cases where you'll generally use a weighted average instead of a traditional average. The first is when you want to calculate an average that is based on different percentage values for several categories. The second case is when you have a group of items and each has a frequency associated with it.

How to calculate average?

1. To calculate the average, we need to first multiply each value (number of runs scored) by its frequency and add up the values. Note that the weights do not always add up to 1, such as in this example. In this case, you simply divide by the sum of the weights. The calculation should look as follows:

What is weighted mean in math?

In this case, you might need to use a weighted average, or weighted mean, which is an average where each value has a specific weight or frequency assigned to it, to calculate your grade. There are two main cases where you will ...

What is the meaning of the average?

The average, or arithmetic mean, of a series of items means you simply add up all the item values and divide by the total number of items to calculate the average. A weighted average, also known as a weighted mean, is an average where each value has a specific weight or frequency assigned to it.

How to calculate weighted average?

For a weighted average, you'd multiply each number by its weight first. For instance, if the first number is twice as important, it would have a weight of 2, while the others would have a weight of 1. In that case, it would be (3x2)+ (5x1)+ (10x1). Then, divide that by 3.

What is weighted mean?

A weighted average, otherwise known as a weighted mean, is a little more complicated to figure out than a regular arithmetic mean. As the name suggests, a weighted average is one where the different numbers you’re working with have different values, or weights, relative to each other. For example, you may need to find a weighted average ...

How to find the average of a number?

1. Write down the numbers you want to average. When you’re calculating a weighted average, the different weights will not always add up to 1 (or 100%). Either way, start by gathering your data, or the individual numbers for which you’d like to find your average.

Example

Let’s take a simple weighted average example to illustrate how we calculate a weighted average.

Explanation

On a simple average, we don’t pay heed to the weight. That’s why when we calculate the simple average, the result becomes too generic. However, in the weighted average, we pay the right emphasis on the right weight, and we portray the weight in terms of percentages.

Recommended Articles

This article is a guide to Weighted Average Formula. Here we learn how to calculate the weighted average using its formula and practical examples, a calculator, and a downloadable excel template. You may also take a look at the following useful articles –

What is weighted average?

Weighted average is one means by which accountants calculate the costs of items. In some industries where quantities are mixed or too numerous to count, the weighted average method is useful. This number goes into the calculation for the cost of goods sold.

How to calculate weighted average?

You can calculate the weighted average of a set of numbers by multiplying each value in the set by its weight, then adding up the products. For a more in-depth explanation of the weighted average formula above, follow these steps: Determine the weight of each data point. Multiply the weight by each value. Add the results of step two together.

How to find weighted average of data set that doesn't equal 1?

The next step to finding the weighted average of a data set that doesn't equal 1 is to add the sum of the total weight. From our previous example, you should have a total of 16 days spent exercising:

Why is weighted average important?

It is an important tool in accounting for stock fluctuations, uneven or misrepresented data and ensuring similar data points are equal in the proportion represented.

How to find the weighted average without bias?

To find the weighted average without added bias, calculate the frequency a number occurs as the variable's weight. This reflects its influence over the entire data set. Example: Calculate the average time you spend exercising four days a week over the period of a month or four weeks.

How to calculate weighted average?

Instead of just summing up all the grades and then dividing them by the total number of grades (which would get the basic average), each grade is multiplied by weight and then summed up and this time divided by the total weight or credits, as explained below: Weighted Average = ( Grade1 * Weight1 + Grade2 * Weight2 + ...

Is the basic average of a group of numbers the same as a weighted average?

This is because the basic average of a group of numbers is the same calculation as a weighted average except that the weights of all the numbers are calculated as being the same.

What is weighted average?

The weighted average is the method of calculating the average, in which each of the quantities is assigned a weight. '. Different weights are assigned to each of the quantities, based no their level of importance. Weighted average is the summation of the product of the weights and quantities, divided by the summation of the weights.

Why is weighted average important?

The weighted average is helpful to make a decision when there are many factors to consider and evaluate. Each of the factors is assigned some weights based on their level of importance, and then the weighted average is calculated using a mathematical formula. The weights do not have any physical units and are only numbers expressed in percentages, ...

What is weighted average cost of capital?

The weighted average cost of capital helps to find the capital value of the company. The capital includes fixed assets, cash in hand, goods, brand value. All of these are assigned certain weights and the weighted average formula is used to calculate the weighted average cost of capital.

Do weights have physical units?

The weights do not have any physical units and are only numbers expressed in percentages, decimals, or integers. In this mini-lesson, we shall explore the topic of weighted average, by finding answers to questions like what is the meaning of weighted average, what are the examples of weighted average, and how to find the weighted average.

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What Is A Weighted average?

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Weighted average is a calculation that takes into account the varying degrees of importance of the numbers in a data set. In calculating a weighted average, each number in the data set is multiplied by a predetermined weight before the final calculation is made. A weighted average can be more accurate than a simple aver…
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Understanding Weighted Averages

  • In calculating a simple average, or arithmetic mean, all numbers are treated equally and assigned equal weight. But a weighted average assigns weights that determine in advance the relative importance of each data point. A weighted average is most often computed to equalize the frequency of the values in a data set. For example, a survey may gather enough responses from …
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Examples of Weighted Averages

  • Weighted averages show up in many areas of finance besides the purchase price of shares, including portfolio returns, inventory accounting, and valuation. When a fund that holds multiple securities is up 10 percent on the year, that 10 percent represents a weighted average of returns for the fund with respect to the value of each position in the fund. For inventory accounting, the …
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What Is Weighted average?

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A weighted average is the average of a data set that recognizes certain numbers as more important than others. Weighted averages are commonly used in statistical analysis, stock portfolios and teacher grading averages. It is an important tool in accounting for stock fluctuations, uneven or misrepresented dat…
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Weighted Average Example

  • Weighted average is one means by which accountants calculate the costs of items. In some industries where quantities are mixed or too numerous to count, the weighted average method is useful. This number goes into the calculation for the cost of goods sold. Other costing methods include last in, first out and first in, first out, or LIFO and FIFO respectively. Example: A manufact…
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How to Calculate Weighted Average

  • Weighted average differs from finding the normal average of a data set because the total reflects that some pieces of the data hold more “weight,” or more significance, than others or occur more frequently. You can calculate the weighted average of a set of numbers by multiplying each value in the set by its weight, then adding up the products. For a more in-depth explanation of the weig…
See more on indeed.com

How to Calculate Weighted Average When The Weights Don't Add Up to One

  • Sometimes you may want to calculate the average of a data set that doesn't add up perfectly to 1 or 100%. This occurs in a random collection of data from populations or occurrences in research. You can calculate the weighted average of this set of numbers by multiplying each value in the set by its weight, then adding up the products and dividing the products' sum by the sum of all weig…
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