What is the median of the following set of data values?
10.4, 0, 3.5, -2.6, 5.7
Answer (2)
Arrange the data in ascending order: -2.6, 0, 3.5, 5.7, 10.4.
Identify the middle value in the sorted data.
Since there are 5 values, the median is the 3rd value.
The median is 3.5 .
Explanation
Understanding the Problem We are given the data set: 10.4, 0, 3.5, -2.6, 5.7. Our goal is to find the median of this data set. The median is the middle value when the data is arranged in ascending order.
Sorting the Data First, we need to arrange the data values in ascending order. The sorted data set is: -2.6, 0, 3.5, 5.7, 10.4.
Finding the Median Since there are 5 data values, the median is the middle value, which is the 3rd value in the sorted list. Therefore, the median is 3.5.
Final Answer The median of the data set 10.4, 0, 3.5, -2.6, 5.7 is 3.5.
Examples
Understanding the median is useful in many real-life situations. For example, if you want to know the 'typical' income in a neighborhood, the median income is often a better measure than the average income because it is not as affected by extremely high or low incomes. Similarly, if you are tracking the prices of houses, the median price gives you a more stable idea of what houses are generally selling for, without being skewed by a few very expensive or very cheap houses. This concept helps in making informed decisions based on data that is not easily distorted by outliers.
To find the median of the values 10.4, 0, 3.5, -2.6, and 5.7, first arrange them in ascending order: -2.6, 0, 3.5, 5.7, 10.4. The median, which is the middle value in this sorted list, is 3.5.
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