Median

Vocabulary

100

What does the word "median" mean in math?

The middle number in a set of ordered numbers.

200

What’s the first step to finding the median of a number set?

Put the numbers in order from least to greatest.

300

What does it mean if there is an even number of values? Or two middle numbers?

Find the mean or add the two number and divide it by two.

400

What’s the difference between mean and median?

Mean is the average of the numbers; median is the middle number.

500

Find the median of your age, your best friend's age and your mom's age. 

Student Answers

Easy Medians

100

Find the median: 2, 5, 3

 3

200

Find the median: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

 8

300

Find the median: 1, 3, 3, 5, 7

3

400

Find the median: 4, 10, 6, 8, 2

6

500

Find the median: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15

9

Even Number Sets

100

Find the median: 2, 4, 6, 8

(4 + 6) ÷ 2 = 5

200

Find the median: 10, 20, 30, 40

(20 + 30) ÷ 2 = 25

300

Find the median: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11

(5 + 7) ÷ 2 = 6

400

Find the median: 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24

(18 + 20) ÷ 2 = 19

500

Find the median: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600

(300 + 400) ÷ 2 = 350

Median Mistakes

100

What’s wrong? Median of 3, 4, 5 is 4.5

Wrong because 3, 4, 5 → median is 4, not 4.5 (only one middle number).

200

Why is this wrong? Median of 5, 7, 6 is 6

They didn’t sort the numbers. Correct order: 5, 6, 7 → median = 6

300

What mistake was made? Median of 2, 4, 6, 8 is 4

2, 4, 6, 8 → (4 + 6) ÷ 2 = 5 ← this one is correct!

400

What’s wrong here? “I forgot to sort the numbers!”

If you don’t sort the numbers, you’ll get the wrong median.

500

Fix the error: Median of 1, 2, 4, 6 is 2.5

Ordered: 1, 2, 4, 6 → (2 + 4) ÷ 2 = 3

Real-Life Medians

100

When would you use a median in real life?

When you want a middle value that isn’t affected by extreme numbers (like test scores or income).

200

You collect test scores: 65, 70, 75, 80, 85. What’s the median?

Ordered: 65, 70, 75, 80, 85 → Median = 75

300

A runner’s times were 9, 10, 11, 12. What’s their median time?

9, 10, 11, 12 → (10 + 11) ÷ 2 = 10.5

400

A family has 6 pets. Their ages are 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10. What’s the median age?

Ordered: 2, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 → (3 + 4) ÷ 2 = 3.5

500

You track daily steps: 3,000; 6,000; 5,000; 8,000; 7,000; 10,000. Find the median.

Ordered: 3,000; 5,000; 6,000; 7,000; 8,000; 10,000 → (6,000 + 7,000) ÷ 2 = 6,500