GED Math Test 2014 - Median of Data Set Tutorial

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A math tutorial on how to find the median of set of numbers. The median is the number in the middle of a data set.

We're given a data set of 5, 7, 5, 5, 5, 5. The first thing to do is put the numbers in order... 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 7. We do this because if the numbers are randomly mixed up the middle number is meaningless.

We've got an even number of numbers so there isn't actually a middle. For example, the middle number in the set 5, 6, 7 is 6. What's the middle number in the set 5, 6, 7, 8? It's (6 + 7)/2 = 6.5

In the case of an even number of numbers in the data set, you have to take the average of the two numbers closest to the middle in order to find a "middle" number. For the problem we're working on, the two numbers closest to the middle are both 5. So, the average of two fives is (5 + 5)/2 = 5. The median is 5!