How do you determine the median of a data set?

To determine the median of a data set, you first need to sort the numbers in ascending order. The median is defined as the value that separates the higher half from the lower half of the data set. Once the data is arranged in order, if there is an odd number of values, the median will be the middle number. If there is an even number of values, the median is calculated by taking the average of the two middle numbers. This method ensures that the median accurately represents the center of the data distribution, making it a robust measure of central tendency that is less affected by outliers compared to the mean.

Selecting the first number does not provide a measure of central tendency and ignores the overall distribution of the data. Averaging all values yields the mean, not the median. The mode represents the most frequently occurring value, which is unrelated to calculating the median. Therefore, identifying the number in the middle after sorting the data accurately captures the essence of finding the median, which is why this approach is correct.