📊 Median Calculator
Enter numbers separated by commas, spaces, or new lines to calculate the median instantly.
How to Use the Median Calculator
Enter a list of numbers to sort the data and calculate the middle value.
Practical Example
For 2, 5, 9, 12 and 20, the median is 9. For 2, 5, 9 and 12, the median is 7.
Factors That Affect the Result
Data entry, sorting, duplicates and whether the number of observations is odd or even determine the median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the median?
It is the middle value of ordered data.
What happens with an even number of values?
The median is the average of the two central values.
Is median affected by extreme values?
It is generally less sensitive to outliers than the arithmetic mean.
How the Median Is Found
The median is the middle value after a data set is sorted from smallest to largest. With an odd number of observations, it is the single middle value. With an even number, the median is normally the average of the two middle values. For example, the median of 2, 5, 9 is 5, while the median of 2, 5, 9, 12 is 7.
Median vs Average
The median is less sensitive to extreme values than the arithmetic mean, which makes it useful for skewed data such as house prices or incomes. However, it does not describe the entire distribution. Two data sets can have the same median but very different ranges and variability.
Enter all observations consistently and avoid accidentally mixing units. For deeper analysis, consider the mean, mode, quartiles, range, and standard deviation alongside the median.