Q.Find median of 14, 3, 1, 7, 10.
Concept understanding — Median
What is the Median?
Imagine you and four friends are comparing pocket money. The amounts are: ₹20, ₹50, ₹30, ₹100, ₹40. If you line these up from smallest to largest — ₹20, ₹30, ₹40, ₹50, ₹100 — the middle value is ₹40. That's the median: the number that splits the data exactly in half.
The median answers a simple question: "What is the typical value, if we ignore extremes?" In the example above, the average (mean) is ₹48, but one friend gets ₹100, which pulls the average up. The median stays at ₹40, which better represents what most of you actually get.
The median is a positional average. It doesn't care how big or small the numbers are — only where they sit in the sorted order.
The Precise Definition
For ungrouped data (a list of numbers):
- Arrange all values in ascending order (smallest to largest).
- Let n be the number of observations.
- If n is odd: the median is the (2n+1)th value.
- If n is even: the median is the average of the (2n)th and (2n+1)th values.
Example 1 (odd count):
Data: 2, 5, 1, 8, 4
Sorted: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8
n=5, position = 25+1=3
Median = 4
Example 2 (even count):
Data: 3, 7, 2, 9, 1, 6
Sorted: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9
n=6, positions = 26=3 and 26+1=4
Values at those positions: 3 and 6
Median = 23+6=4.5
A common mistake: for even n, students sometimes pick the 2nth value alone. You must average the two middle numbers.
Why the Median Matters
The median is resistant to outliers. A single extreme value — like a billionaire walking into a room of 100 people — can distort the mean wildly, but the median barely flinches. That's why reports on income or house prices often quote the median: it tells you what a "typical" person or house is like, without the rich or the mansions skewing the picture.
In your exams, you'll also encounter the median for grouped data (frequency distributions). The idea is the same — find the value that splits the total frequency in half — but the calculation uses a formula involving cumulative frequency and class intervals. That's a natural next step once this core idea is solid.
Median = middle value of sorted data.
For odd n: pick the 2n+1th term.
For even n: average the 2nth and 2n+1th terms.
Arrange the data in ascending order: 1,3,7,10,14. With n=5 (odd), the median is the (2n+1)-th value, i.e. the 3rd value.
Median =7
Sort the 5 observations and pick the middle (3rd) value, since n is odd.
[!FORMULA] For odd n: Median=(2n+1)-th observation in the sorted data
where n = number of observations.
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List the data: 14, 3, 1, 7, 10
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Arrange in ascending order: 1, 3, 7, 10, 14
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Count the observations: n=5 (odd).
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Locate the median position: 2n+1=25+1=3, i.e. the 3rd value in the sorted list.
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Read off the 3rd value: 1 (1st), 3 (2nd), 7 (3rd), 10 (4th), 14 (5th)
Median =7
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.From the following, the one which is not equal to median, is :(a) Second quartile(b) Sixth decile(c) Fiftieth percentile(d) Fifth decile
›Reveal solutionSolution
Median =Q2=D5=P50; the sixth decile D6 is the odd one out.
The median divides the data at the 50% point. The partition values that also fall at 50% are:
- Second quartile Q2 (2 of 4 parts =50%),
- Fifth decile D5 (5 of 10 parts =50%),
- Fiftieth percentile P50 (50%).
The sixth decile D6 lies at 60% of the data, so D6= median.
✓Final answerOption (b) Sixth decile — D6 is the 60% point, not equal to the median.
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Answer each of the following question in one sentence each : What do you mean by median of a distribution ?
›Reveal solutionSolution
Median = the central value splitting ordered data into two equal halves.
When the observations are arranged in ascending (or descending) order, the median is the value of the middle item; exactly 50% of the observations fall below it and 50% above it. It is a positional average unaffected by extreme values.
✓Final answerThe median is the middle value of an ordered distribution that divides the data into two equal halves.
- CBSE 2024Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Fill in the blanks : The median of 25, 27, 30, 35, 38, 32 and 40 is ________.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Median of the 7 ordered values is the 4th one =32.
Arrange in ascending order: 25,27,30,32,35,38,40. With n=7 (odd), the median is the (2n+1)th=4th value =32.
✓Final answerThe median is 32.
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The median of 5, 15, 12, 7, 14 and 18 is equal to :(a) 12(b) 14(c) 13(d) 15
›Reveal solutionSolution
Order the data and average the two central values because n=6 is even; the median is 13.
This is a very-short-answer item from the Measures of Central Tendency chapter of the CHSE Odisha +2 Class-12 Business Mathematics & Statistics syllabus (aligned with the NCERT/CBSE commerce curriculum).
Step 1 — arrange the values in ascending order:
5, 7, 12, 14, 15, 18
Step 2 — count the observations: n=6 (even).
Step 3 — for an even number of observations the median is the average of the (2n)th and (2n+1)th items, i.e. the 3rd and 4th items:
Median=212+14=226=13
✓Final answer(c) 13
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Fill in the blanks : Median is a ______ average.
›Reveal solutionSolution
The correct word is positional.
The median is the value of the middle item when the data are arranged in order. Its value is fixed by the position of the central observation, not by the numerical magnitude of every value — so it is called a positional average. (By contrast, the arithmetic mean is a calculated/mathematical average because it uses all the magnitudes.)
✓Final answerMedian is a positional average.
- CBSE 2023Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Rectify the underlined portions of the following sentences : Second quartile and mean of a series are equal.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Replace mean with median: Q2 equals the median.
The quartiles divide an ordered series into four equal parts. The second quartile Q2 lies exactly at the half-way point of the distribution — which is precisely the definition of the median. Hence the second quartile and the median of a series are equal (Q2= Median), not the mean.
✓Final answerSecond quartile and median of a series are equal.
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The median of 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20 and 22 is :(a) Fifth value(b) Sixth value(c) Eighth value(d) Tenth value
›Reveal solutionSolution
Median position =2n+1=212=6th value.
The eleven values 2,4,6,…,22 are already arranged in ascending order. For an odd number of observations n=11, the median is the middle item at position
2n+1=211+1=6.
So the median is the 6th value (which is 12).
✓Final answerOption (b) — the sixth value.
- CBSE 2022Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.The median of 98.13, 98.01, 98.1, 98.42 and 98.08 is :(a) 98.08(b) 98.13(c) 98.01(d) 98.1
›Reveal solutionSolution
Ordered data: 98.01,98.08,98.1,98.13,98.42; median is the middle value 98.1.
Arrange in ascending order:
98.01,98.08,98.1,98.13,98.42.
For n=5 (odd), the median is at position 2n+1=3, which is 98.1.
✓Final answerOption (d) — 98.1.
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Rectify the underlined portions of the following sentences:(i) Median is a <u>mathematical</u> average.
›Reveal solutionSolution
The correct word is positional — the median is a positional average, not a mathematical one.
Averages are of two broad kinds:
- Mathematical averages — computed using all the values through arithmetic operations: Arithmetic Mean, Geometric Mean, Harmonic Mean.
- Positional averages — located by their position in an arranged (ascending/descending) series: Median and Mode.
The median is the value of the middle item of an ordered data set, so it depends on the position of items rather than on a calculation involving every observation. Hence calling it a mathematical average is incorrect.
✓Final answerMedian is a positional average.
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markQ.Fill in the blanks:(viii) The median of 198,205,179,146,210,186 and 190 is __________.
›Reveal solutionSolution
Median =190.
Data: 198,205,179,146,210,186,190. Arrange in ascending order:
146,179,186,190,198,205,210
Here N=7 (odd), so the median is the value of the (2N+1)th=4th item.
The 4th value is 190.
✓Final answerMedian =190.
- CBSE 2019Set ANNUAL1 markMCQQ.(b) Median of 72,78,81,88,92,83 and 100 is(a) 88(b) 78(c) 81(d) 83
›Reveal solutionSolution
Correct option: (d) 83.
Data: 72,78,81,88,92,83,100. Arrange in ascending order:
72,78,81,83,88,92,100.
With N=7 (odd), the median is the (2N+1)th=4th item, which is 83.
✓Final answerOption (d) 83.
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