This was to answer your question. Not to say how i dive.
I usually dont include the descent. Part of conservatism.
Ascent is part of min gas
I was triggered by the "average maximum depth" phrase, which is nonsensical and appears to have been rescinded.Not necessarily. If you bomb down to 140ft in 2.5 mins and stay there for 25mins the descent time is functionally immaterial and it's not a big deal to ignore that and just use max depth. Ala Navy table approach.
I don't know how a "depth used in the average exceeds max depth" that's not mathematically possible. Although someone could round a 159ft max for 5 mins to 160ft for 5 mins, plus a variety of shallower times and its generally not a big deal.