Calculating Mean and Median

Statistics · Axiom Academy

EXAMPLE Calculating Mean and Median Step-by-step walkthrough of finding measures of central tendency from data sets Excellent work! You've completed this example. Here's what we learned: Mean calculation: Add all values together and divide by the number of values. The mean represents the "average" and is affected by extreme values. Median for odd counts: When there's an odd number of values, the median is simply the middle value after sorting. Here, with 7 values, the median is at position 4. Ordering matters: Always arrange data in ascending (or descending) order before finding the median. The original order doesn't matter for the median. Mean vs Median: In this example, the mean (11.29) and median (11) are close, suggesting the data is fairly symmetric without extreme outliers. Even vs Odd: For even-numbered data sets, you'll need to average the two middle values to find the median. For odd-numbered sets (like ours), you simply pick the middle value. Practice with different data sets, including those with even numbers of values and outliers, to build your understanding of these important measures!

This is the written version of the interactive lesson above. See the full Statistics course.