what is the median 
the term median refers to a metric used in statistics it is the middle number in a sorted ascending or descending list of numbers and can be more descriptive of that data set than the average it is the point above and below which half 50 of the observed data falls and so represents the midpoint of the data the median is often compared with other descriptive statistics such as the mean average mode and standard deviation understanding the medianstatistics is a branch of mathematics it involves the collection and study of data which allows researchers to make inferences or determinations about a certain topic the analysis of quantitative data can be used to study anything from demographics populations and investments among other things a median is the middle number in a sorted list of numbers either ascending or descending used in statistical studies to determine the median value in a sequence of numbers the numbers must first be sorted or arranged in value order from lowest to highest or highest to lowest the median can be used to determine an approximate average or mean but is not to be confused with the actual mean the median is sometimes used as opposed to the mean when there are outliers in the sequence that might skew the average of the values the median of a sequence can be less affected by outliers than the mean median vs meanas noted above it s important not to confuse the terms median and mean the two may sound the same but they are very different a median is a number that falls in the middle of a group remember this is done by ordering the numbers from smallest to largest and locating the one that falls in the middle a mean on the other hand is the average of a data set also called the arithmetic mean it is the average of the sum of the numbers in a group in order to figure out the mean you must take the sum of the numbers in the group and divide the sum by the total number of data points for instance let s say a data set consists of the numbers 3 5 7 and 19 to figure out the mean in this case the mean is 8 5 the median on the other hand would be 6 that s because there s an even number of data points the middle two of which we add together and divide by 2 to get the result 5 7 2 the median is closely associated with quartiles or dividing up observed data into four equal parts the median would be the center point with the first two quartiles falling below it and the second two above it other ways of bucketing data include quintiles in five sections and deciles in 10 sections example of a medianto find the median value in a list with an odd amount of numbers one would find the number that is in the middle with an equal amount of numbers on either side of the median to find the median first arrange the numbers in order usually from lowest to highest for example in a data set of 3 13 2 34 11 26 47 the sorted order becomes 2 3 11 13 26 34 47 the median is the number in the middle 2 3 11 13 26 34 47 which in this instance is 13 since there are three numbers on either side to find the median value in a list with an even amount of numbers one must determine the middle pair add them and divide by two again arrange the numbers in order from lowest to highest for example in a data set of 3 13 2 34 11 17 27 47 the sorted order becomes 2 3 11 13 17 27 34 47 the median is the average of the two numbers in the middle 2 3 11 13 17 26 34 47 which in this case is 15 or 13 17 2 15 