Q.The ages (in years) of 5 employees in a small firm are 22, 25, 19, 30, 28. Find the mean deviation about the median.

With $n=5$ (odd), the median is simply the middle value once the ages are sorted; deviations are then measured from it, not from the mean.

Step 1 — Sort and find the median. Sorted ages: $19,22,25,28,30$. With $n=5$ (odd), the median is the $\left(\dfrac{n+1}{2}\right)=3$rd value $=25$.

Step 2 — Find the absolute deviations from the median.

Step 3 — Average. $\sum|x-M| = 6+3+0+3+5 = 17$. …

Forgetting to sort the data before picking the 'middle' value can give the wrong median entirely — in the original, unsorted order (22,25,19,30,28), the 3rd-listed value is 19, which is NOT …