In statistics, what is the median?

The median represents the middle value in an ordered set of data. To find the median, you first arrange the data points in ascending order. If there is an odd number of observations, the median is the value that lies directly in the center. If there is an even number of observations, the median is calculated as the average of the two middle values. This measure is particularly valuable because it is not influenced by extremely high or low values (outliers), making it a good indicator of the central tendency of the dataset.

In contrast, the average refers to the mean, which is calculated by summing all data values and dividing by the count, and can be skewed by outliers. The mode, which is the most frequently occurring number, can exist in datasets without a median if no single number appears more than others. Lastly, the highest value in the set does not provide any information about the middle or typical value of the data, focusing only on the extremities.