# Definition of avg\_time in topics table

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [22.Май.2018 23:40:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187 "2018-05-22T23:40:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@hross](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hross)\
**Post date:** [22.Май.2018 23:40:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187/1 "2018-05-22T23:40:02Z")

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Hey there!

I’m working on some SQL queries to show the value of some of our proactive how-to content. I am pulling fields from the topics table to show the number of reads etc. I see there is an avg\_time field and was wondering if that refers to the avg amount of time users spend on the topic? And if so, is that measure of seconds? minutes?

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![simon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/simon/32/339122_2.png) [@simon](https://meta.discourse.org/u/simon)\
**Post date:** [23.Май.2018 00:20:02 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187/2 "2018-05-23T00:20:02Z")

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> [@hross](#):
>
> I see there is an avg\_time field and was wondering if that refers to the avg amount of time users spend on the topic?

Yes, it returns the average time in seconds that people have spent reading the topic’s posts. The comment for the function that calculates the value says that it returns the ’ geometric mean’ of the posts’ timings.

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**Author:** ![hross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@hross](https://meta.discourse.org/u/hross)\
**Post date:** [23.Май.2018 15:07:49 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187/3 "2018-05-23T15:07:49Z")

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Thanks Simon - as I just admin the site, I can’t see comments in the code. It would be great to develop a data dictionary outside of the code base potentially.

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/system/32/443519_2.png) [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [13.Ноябрь.2020 22:54:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187/4 "2020-11-13T22:54:09Z")

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**Author:** ![riking](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/riking/32/170938_2.png) [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)\
**Post date:** [17.Ноябрь.2020 22:59:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/definition-of-avg-time-in-topics-table/88187/5 "2020-11-17T22:59:38Z")

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