Wiki Page, Math 13 - Perez Sandbox : Module 5 - Mean and Median (1b of 2)

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2026-01-17T21:15:50-08:00

Median

The median is another way to identify a typical value. It is another measure of center.

The median is the middle of the data when all the values are listed in order. The median divides the data into two equal-sized groups. There is as much data below the median as above it.

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EXAMPLE Finding the median homework score

Let’s return to Beth’s homework scores: 70, 80, 80, 80, 85, 86, 90, 90, 95.

The median score is 85. This is the center score. There are four homework scores below 85 and four homework scores above 85.

For this data set, the median was one of the homework scores. This will not always be the case. So, like the mean, the median does not give us information about any individual homework score or about how the homework scores vary. It only gives us a sense of Beth’s performance by locating a value that is the middle of the actual scores.

Here is the median marked on a dotplot of the distribution of homework scores. For this set of scores, the median is also a pretty good measure of how Beth performed overall.

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