Which function would you use to find the average of a numeric field?

The function used to find the average of a numeric field is mean(). In statistical terms, the mean represents the arithmetic average of a set of values, calculated by summing all the values and then dividing by the count of values. In Splunk's Search Processing Language (SPL), the mean() function specifically returns this average for the specified numeric field, making it the most appropriate choice for calculating averages.

While the avg() function might seem like a plausible option, in the context of SPL, it is not defined as a built-in function. Similarly, median() is used to determine the middle value in a dataset and would not be suitable for finding the average. The calculate() function does not exist in Splunk's SPL and is not related to computing averages in any way. Thus, mean() is the correct and widely recognized function for obtaining the average of a numeric field in Splunk.