Averages are a way to summarize a set of numbers by finding a central value. The most common type is the arithmetic mean, which is calculated by adding all the numbers together and then dividing by the total count of those numbers. For example, if you have the numbers 2, 4, and 6, the average would be (2 + 4 + 6) / 3 = 4. There are other types of averages as well, such as the median and mode. The median is the middle number in a sorted list, while the mode is the number that appears most frequently. Averages are useful in various fields, including statistics, economics, and everyday life, to help understand data trends and make comparisons.