average?

[Anton Vredegoor]

On Fri, 20 Sep 2002 15:10:47 -0400, Carl Banks <imbosol at vt.edu> wrote:

>Mark McEahern wrote:
>>  def average(seq):
>>    return reduce(operator.add(seq) / len(seq))

>> 1.  Is there anything else dumb about the above?
>
>Well, yes; it seems to me you meant this:
>
>    def average(seq):
>        return reduce(operator.add,seq)/len(seq)

>> 2.  Am I missing a builtin cousin of min, max that would do this for me?
>
>In pure Python, I don't think so.  I would be surprised if the above
>function (when typed correctly) isn't the fastest way in pure Python.

Just a few more posters and we will get this function right, I am sure
...

 >>> import operator
 >>> def average(seq):
         return reduce(operator.add,seq)/len(seq)

 >>> average([1,2,3,4])
 2
 >>> def average(seq):
         return reduce(operator.add,seq)/float(len(seq))

 >>> average([1,2,3,4])
 2.5
 >>> 

Anton.