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How do you find the median

If you have done statistics in math you may have come across the term ‘median’. But what is the median? How do you calculate the median? This post will tell you how to find the median through a step-by-step process. There are 2 examples at the bottom of the post.

What is the median?

The median is simply the middle score. It is used to separate the ‘scores’ into two halves.

How do you find the median

The process of finding the median changes depending on whether you have an odd or even number of values.

For an odd number of values

  1. Sort the scores from lowest to highest.
  2. Determine which is the middle score. There should be an equal number of scores on either side of the median. For example, if you have 5 scores the 3rd score will be the middle value. There will be 2 scores on either side of the median.
  3. The middle score is the median!

For an even number of values

  1. Sort the scores from lowest to highest.
  2. Determine the 2 middle scores. There should be an equal number of scores on either side of the median. For example, if you have 6 scores the 3rd and 4th will be the ‘middle scores’. There will be 2 scores on either side of the median.
  3. Find the average of the 2 middle scores. This is calculated by adding the values and then dividing the answer by 2.
  4. The average is the median!

Examples

For an Odd Number of Scores

If you have the numbers 4, 8, 5, 9, 2, 10, 7

Arrange in order: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

The middle score (the median) is 7. There are 3 scores on either side (2, 4, 5 on the left and 8, 9, 10 on the right)

For an Even Number of Scores

If you have the numbers 4, 8, 5, 9, 2, 10, 7, 13

Arrange in order: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13

The middle scores are 7 and 8. There are 3 scores on either side (2, 4, 5 on the left and 9, 10, 13 on the right).

The average of the middle scores is (7+8)/2. The answer is 7.5.

Therefore, the median is 7.5

Other Math Topics

Basic Algebra Problems

Fifth Grade Math Problems

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