Trimmed Mean

Drops your best and worst results, then averages what is left — the Olympic judging approach.

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Averages of where you finish — fair across uneven schedules. The formula and explanation below describe Trimmed Mean.

How it works About 1 min read

Trimmed Mean removes the best and worst result(s) before averaging. It's like the Olympic judging approach: throw out the highest and lowest scores.

How it works: Drop the top and bottom placement(s) from your results, then calculate the mean of what remains. With finishes [1, 2, 3, 3, 9], dropping the best and worst gives mean(2, 3, 3) = 2.67.

When to use it: When you want a balanced view that isn't skewed by either a lucky win or an unlucky catastrophe. Works with both placements and raw scores.

Watch out for: Requires at least 3 matches to work (need something left after trimming). The number of results to trim is configurable.

Will it fit your results?

Works well with

Games whose results this method reads cleanly

Catan Azul Wingspan

Also in Average & Percentile

Averages of where you finish — fair across uneven schedules.

Average PlacementA balanced, instantly readable reading when your matches are roughly the same size.Median PlacementMeasuring someone's typical evening rather than their worst one.Average PercentileMixed field sizes and uneven attendance; the fairest reading in this family, and comparable enough between groups to travel to a global board.Geometric Mean PercentileGroups who believe one catastrophe should count for more than one triumph.Best N of MLong seasons where you want to forgive the occasional disaster and reward a peak.