WEIGHTED_AVG Function [Aggregate]

Calculates an arithmetically (or linearly) weighted average.

A weighted average is an average in which each quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight. Weightings determine the relative importance of each quantity that make up the average.

Syntax

WEIGHTED_AVG (expression)
OVER (window-spec)
window-spec: See the Usage section, below.

Parameters

Parameter

Description

expression

A numeric expression for which a weighted value is being computed.

Remarks

Use the WEIGHTED_AVG function to create a weighted moving average. In a weighted moving average, weights decrease arithmetically over time. Weights decrease from the highest weight for the most recent data points, down to zero.

WEIGHTED_AVG Calculation
WEIGHTED_AVG calculation

To exaggerate the weighting, you can average two or more weighted moving averages together, or use an EXP_WEIGHTED_AVG function instead.

You can specify elements of window-spec either in the function syntax (inline), or with a WINDOW clause in the SELECT statement.

window-spec:

  • Must contain an ORDER BY specifier.

  • Cannot contain FOLLOWING or RANGE specifiers.

  • The second argument of the ROW specifier—if provided—must be CURRENT ROW.

  • Cannot contain NULL values.

  • Cannot contain the DISTINCT specifier.

  • UNBOUNDED PRECEDING is supported, but may result in poor performance if used

Standards and Compatibility

  • SQL—Vendor extension to ISO/ANSI SQL grammar.

Example

The following example returns a weighted average of salaries by department for employees in Florida, with the salary of recently hired employees contributing the most weight to the average:
SELECT DepartmentID, Surname, Salary,
WEIGHTED_AVG(Salary) OVER (PARTITION BY DepartmentID
ORDER BY YEAR(StartDate) DESC) as "W_AVG"
FROM Employees
WHERE State IN ('FL') ORDER BY DepartmentID

The returned result set is:

WEIGHTED_AVG result set

DepartmentID

Surname

Salary

W_AVG

100

Lull

87,900.000

87,900.000000

100

Gowda

59,840.000

69,193.333333

200

Sterling

64,900.000

64,900.000000

200

Kelly

87,500.000

79,966.666667

300

Litton

58,930.000

58,930.000000

400

Evans

68,940.000

68,940.000000

400

Charlton

28,300.000

41,846.666667

400

Francis

53,870.000

47,858.333333

Related concepts
Windowing Aggregate Function Usage
Related reference
EXP_WEIGHTED_AVG Function [Aggregate]