Find the Median of a Set of Numbers
The median is the exact middle number in a sequence or set of numbers. When you're looking for the median in a sequence that has an odd amount of total numbers, the process is really easy. Finding the median in a sequence that has an even amount of total numbers is a bit harder. To find the median easily and successfully, read on.
Contents
Steps
Find the Median in an Odd Set of Numbers
- Sort your set of numbers from least to greatest. If they're scrambled, line them up, starting with the lowest number and ending with the highest number.
- Find the number that is exactly in the middle. This means that median number has the same amount of numbers in front of it as it does behind it. Count them to make sure.
- There are two numbers in front of the 3, and two numbers behind it. This tells us that 3 is the number exactly in the middle.
- Finished. The median of an odd-numbered sequence is always a number in the sequence itself. It is never a number that is not in the sequence.
Find the Median in an Even Set of Numbers
- Sort out your set of numbers from least to greatest. Again, use the same first step as the first method. An even set of numbers is going to have two numbers exactly in the middle.
- Find the average of the two numbers in the middle. 2 and 3 are both in the middle, so you need to add 2 and 3, then divide the sum by 2. The formula for finding the average of two numbers is (the sum of the two middle numbers) รท 2.
- Finished. The median of a sequence with even amount of numbers doesn't have to be a number in the sequence itself.
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