How to Find The Median If There Is an Odd Number of Values?

The median is, in mathematical terms, the middle value of an ordered list of numbers. There's a simple way of remembering this; just think of the median which runs down the center of a divided road. By the same token, the median number is, if you put all the numbers in order, the center that divides one end of the number list from the other. You'll most often see median values used to make sense of numbered data sets--in other words, statistics.

Things You'll Need

• Paper and pencil

Instructions

1. Place the numbers in a list ordered by value. It doesn't matter whether you start with the smallest value and work your way up or start with the biggest value and work down.

2. Locate the middle number. You can either count in from both ends of the list you made to find the number in the middle or subtract one from the total amount of numbers, divide by two, then add one on again to determine the place of the middle number. So if for example you have 15 numbers on your list, 15 minus 1 is 14; 14 divided by 2 is 7, and 7 plus 1 is 8. The eighth number on the list is the middle number.

3. Note the middle number down as the median value.

References

• Math Is Fun