Definition of

Harmonic Mean

Harmonic Mean

The reciprocal of the average of the reciprocals.

Say we have "n" values {a,b,c,...}, then we can calculate:

Harmonic Mean = n / (1/a + 1/b + 1/c + ...)

Steps:
• Calculate the reciprocal (1/value) for every value.
• Find the average of those reciprocals (add them and divide by n)
• Then do the reciprocal of that average (=1/average)

Example: the harmonic mean of 2, 4, and 8.

Step 1: Calculate the reciprocal (1/value) for every value:
* Reciprocal of 2: 1/2 = 0.5
* Reciprocal of 4: 1/4 = 0.25
* Reciprocal of 8: 1/8 = 0.125

Step 2: Find the average of those reciprocals (add them and divide by n).
* Sum of reciprocals: 0.5+0.25+0.125 = 0.875
* Average of reciprocals: 0.875/3 ≈ 0.291666...

Step 3: Then do the reciprocal of that average (=1/average).
* Harmonic Mean = 1/0.291666... ≈ 3.42857