Which function is used to find the middle number in a range?

The correct answer is 1) MEDIAN().

Key Points

• The MEDIAN() function is used to find the middle number in a given range of numbers.
  • The median is the number that separates the higher half from the lower half of a data sample.
  • If the total number of values (n) in the data set is odd, the median is the value at position (n+1)/2.
  • If the total number of values (n) in the data set is even, the median is the average of the values at positions n/2 and (n/2)+1.
  • For example, in the data set {1, 3, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9}, the median is 6. In the data set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9}, the median is (4+5)/2 = 4.5.
  • Using the MEDIAN() function in a spreadsheet application like Excel or Google Sheets can quickly compute the median value from a range of cells.

Additional Information

• The MEDIAN() function is different from the AVERAGE() function, which calculates the mean of the numbers in a range.
• Other statistical functions include MODE(), which returns the most frequently occurring number in a range, and TRIMMEAN(), which calculates the mean after excluding a certain percentage of data from the tails.
• Knowing how to use these functions is crucial for data analysis and interpretation in various fields such as finance, research, and engineering.