Idea 5of 22Builds onOne number for a whole group
The median: the middle value in order
How do you find the middle of a data set?
Today you'll discover
- why order comes first
- how to cross off from both ends
Think firstMinutes of reading: 6, 2, 9, 4, 7
Which value is in the middle of this data?
Decide first, then press Next. Watch the boxes move into order.
A row of five boxes, 6, 2, 9, 4, 7, as they came. They slide into order: 2, 4, 6, 7, 9. Slashes cross off 2 and 9, then 4 and 7, and 6 is ringed as the median. The last step shows the pages read by seven students.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
The median is the middle value once the values are put in order.
Easy to get wrongThe middle of the list as it came is not the median. In 6, 2, 9, 4, 7 the middle is 9, the largest value.
Three stepsPut the values in order. Cross off one from each end, again and again. The value left in the middle is the median.
Key word
- median
- the middle value of a data set once the values are in order from smallest to largest
Ready to use it?
- Order a data set and find its median.