To find the average value of a numeric column in a database, you typically use the SQL AVG() function. This function is used in a SELECT statement to calculate the average of the values in the specified column.
Here is a basic example of how to write that query:
SELECT AVG(column_name) AS average_value
FROM table_name;
In this query:
- Replace column_name with the name of the numeric column you want to average.
- Replace table_name with the name of the table containing that column.
- AS average_value is optional and provides an alias for the resulting column in the output.
Example
Suppose you have a table named sales with a numeric column called amount. To find the average sales amount, you would write:
SELECT AVG(amount) AS average_sales
FROM sales;
This query will return a single value representing the average of all values in the amount column from the sales table.