Moving Average Calculator
This calculator computes the simple moving average of a series of numbers, a technique that smooths out short-term fluctuations to reveal the underlying trend. A moving average replaces each point with the average of itself and a window of neighbouring points, sliding that window along the series. The effect is to dampen noise and random ups and downs, making the genuine direction of the data easier to see. It is one of the most widely used tools in time-series analysis: investors use moving averages of share prices to spot trends, businesses smooth noisy sales or traffic data, and scientists and engineers filter measurements. This calculator does it. You paste your series of numbers and choose the window size, the number of consecutive points to average, and it returns the most recent moving average value, the window size, the number of moving-average points produced, and the full list of moving averages. The results update as you type. Use it to smooth a noisy series, to identify a trend, for financial or sales analysis, or for statistics study. Each moving average is the mean of a window of consecutive values, and as the window slides one step at a time along the series, it produces a new, smoothed series with fewer points than the original, since the first few points do not have a full window behind them. A larger window smooths more aggressively, flattening out more fluctuation but responding more slowly to real changes, while a smaller window stays closer to the raw data. Choosing the window is a trade-off between smoothness and responsiveness. The simple moving average weights every point in the window equally; other variants like the weighted or exponential moving average give more weight to recent points, but the simple version is the most common starting point and the easiest to interpret.
Each moving average is the mean of a window of consecutive points. A larger window smooths more but lags real changes. This is a simple (equal-weight) moving average.
How it works
The calculator slides a window of the chosen size along the series one step at a time, and for each position averages the values inside the window. This produces a new, smoothed series. There are fewer moving-average points than original points, because the first positions do not have a full window of earlier values.
Worked example
For the series 10, 12, 14, 13, 15, 16 with a window of 3, the first moving average is the mean of 10, 12 and 14, which is 12. Sliding the window gives 13, then 14, then the mean of 13, 15 and 16, which is 14.67. The four moving averages smooth the original six points.
Related calculators
- Mean Median Mode: averages.
- Trimmed Mean: robust average.
- Weighted Average: weighted mean.
- Standard Deviation: variability.