Data calculations: Finding the Median (Middle score)

Data Calculations: Finding the Median ( Middle Score)

The median is the middle score or number. To find the median, scores must be placed in order from the smallest to biggest. Start counting one off each end, until you have one score in left in the middle.

For example: The results from the class test are listed below.

6 ,8 ,10 ,10 ,9 ,7 ,5

What is the median or ‘middle‘ score? 6,8,10,10,9,7,5,

In this example, scores are put into order would be…

5,6,7,8,9,10,10

Then, start counting one off each end, keep going until you have one score left in the middle.

5,6,7,8,9,10,10,

What number is in the middle of this list? The middle number is the median.

Answer:  The number 8 is the median.

Task 1:

Find the median (middle score) for each list scores below.

Remember scores must be in order.

1.  4,8,9     Median 8

2. 4,6,6,7,9  Median 6
3. 4,9,12,13,16,19,21  Median 13

4. 1,3,4,6,8,9,9  Median 6

5. 6,8,9,15,17,18,19,21  Median 13

6. 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,9,11  Median 6

7. 6,9,4  Median 4

8. 7,6,1,3,8 Median 6

9. 5,2,4,7,9,4.5 Median 5

In the questions above, there is an odd number of scores and one number is left in the middle. When you have an even number of scores, there will be two scores left in the middle.

For example: 3,6,8,9

What numbers are in the middle? 6 and 8

Halfway between 6 and 8? 7

The median is 7

Another example: 4,7,8,10,11,12

What numbers are in the middle? 8 and 10

Halfway between 8 and 10? 9

The median is 9