What is the median in a data set?

What is the median in a data set?

• A. The most frequently occurring value.
• B. The middle value in a set of data that has been rank ordered.
• C. The sum of all values divided by the number of scores.
• D. The range of the data.

Answer: (B)

Median is the middle value of a data set when the values are arranged from smallest to largest. To find it, order the data and pick the central value; if there is an even number of observations, take the average of the two middle values. This divides the data into two halves with equal numbers of observations. For contrast, the most frequently occurring value is the mode; the sum of all values divided by the number of scores is the mean; the range is the difference between the largest and smallest values. Example: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5 → ordered: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 → median is 3. If the set were 1, 2, 3, 4 → middle values are 2 and 3, so the median is 2.5.

Median is the middle value of a data set when the values are arranged from smallest to largest. To find it, order the data and pick the central value; if there is an even number of observations, take the average of the two middle values. This divides the data into two halves with equal numbers of observations. For contrast, the most frequently occurring value is the mode; the sum of all values divided by the number of scores is the mean; the range is the difference between the largest and smallest values. Example: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5 → ordered: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 → median is 3. If the set were 1, 2, 3, 4 → middle values are 2 and 3, so the median is 2.5.