Skip to main content
Calculator Answers
All resources

Resources · Education · Math

How to Find Range in Statistics

In descriptive statistics, the range is the simplest measure of variability or dispersion in a dataset. It represents the numerical difference between the highest (maximum) value and the lowest (minimum) value. Calculating range provides a quick snapshot of how spread out your data points are.

5 min read

Blake Boege
Blake BoegeFounder, Calculator AnswersPublished May 29, 2026

The Range Formula

The mathematical formula for finding the range of a set of numbers is:

Range = Maximum Value − Minimum Value

To compute the range, you only need to identify two values from your data set: the largest number and the smallest number.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Follow these steps to find the range of any dataset:

  1. Sort the dataset: Arrange your numbers in order from least to greatest. While not strictly necessary, sorting makes it much easier to spot the smallest and largest values without missing any numbers.
  2. Identify the extremes: Locate the first number in your sorted list (the minimum) and the last number (the maximum).
  3. Subtract: Subtract the minimum from the maximum.

Worked Example: Test Scores

Dataset: {85, 92, 78, 99, 88, 64, 91}

1. Sort the set: {64, 78, 85, 88, 91, 92, 99}

2. Identify extremes: Min = 64, Max = 99

3. Calculate: Range = 99 − 64

4. Result: Range = 35

Range vs. Other Variability Measures

Because range is sensitive to extreme values, statisticians use other indicators to measure statistical spread:

MeasureFormula / MethodProsCons
RangeMax − MinExtremely easy to calculate.Distorted by single outliers.
Interquartile Range (IQR)Q3 − Q1Unaffected by outliers.Requires finding medians of sub-halves.
Standard DeviationSquare root of varianceAccounts for every data point.Complex multi-step calculation.

Descriptive Statistics Tools

Perform statistics analysis instantly. Paste your dataset into our free calculators:

Mean, Median, Mode & Range Calculator

Input your data to compute the mean, median, mode, range, sum, and count simultaneously.

Open

IQR Calculator

Find the first quartile (Q1), third quartile (Q3), interquartile range, and outliers of any set.

Open

Frequently asked questions

No, the statistical range cannot be a negative number. Because it represents the absolute distance between the maximum and minimum values, and the maximum is always greater than or equal to the minimum, the calculation (Max − Min) will always result in a positive number or zero.

A range of zero indicates that the maximum and minimum values in the dataset are identical. This means that all numbers in the dataset are exactly the same (e.g., in the set {5, 5, 5, 5}, the range is 5 − 5 = 0).

Range is highly sensitive to outliers (extreme values). If a dataset has one extremely large or small number, the range will expand dramatically, falsely implying that the entire dataset is highly spread out when most of the values are actually clustered closely together.

Range measures the distance between the absolute maximum and minimum values (Max − Min). Interquartile Range (IQR) measures the spread of the middle 50% of the data (Q3 − Q1). IQR is much more robust because it ignores extreme outliers at both ends of the dataset.
Open the statistics calculatorBack to all resources