What is the Median in Descriptive Statistics?

The median is a measure of central tendency that represents the middle value in a dataset when the values are arranged in ascending or descending order. Unlike the mean, the median is not affected by extreme outliers, making it a robust measure of central tendency.

How to Calculate the Median

Arrange the data in ascending order
If n is odd: Median = middle value
If n is even: Median = (middle two values) / 2

When to Use the Median

When your data contains outliers that might skew the mean
For ordinal data or skewed distributions
When you need a robust measure of central tendency
For income data or other highly skewed datasets

Example Calculation

For the dataset [1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9]:
Since n = 7 (odd), median = 4th value = 6

For the dataset [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]:
Since n = 6 (even), median = (3 + 4) ÷ 2 = 3.5

Related Descriptive Statistics

The median is often compared with the mean and mode to understand the distribution of your data. You can also explore measures of variability like variance and standard deviation.