What is the Median?
The median is a measure of central tendency that represents the middle value in a sorted dataset.
Unlike the arithmetic mean, the median is not affected by extreme values or outliers. This makes it a more robust measure when your data contains unusually high or low values.
The median is widely used in statistics, economics, and data analysis.
Median Formula
To calculate the median manually:
The median is the middle value in a sorted dataset.
Example
For [3, 7, 9, 12, 15], the median is 9. For [3, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18], the median is (9+12)/2 = 10.5.
When to use median
The median is preferred in many scenarios:
Income Statistics
Median income is more representative than average income.
House Prices
Median house prices are better market indicators.
Grade Analysis
The median better shows how most students performed.