What is the term for the middle value in a data set when it is ordered?

The term for the middle value in a data set when it is ordered is known as the median. To find the median, you first arrange the numbers in the data set from smallest to largest. If there is an odd number of observations, the median is the middle number. If there is an even number of observations, the median is calculated by taking the average of the two middle numbers. This measure is particularly useful for understanding the central tendency of a data set, especially when the data includes outliers, as it is less affected by extreme values than other measures of central tendency.

The mode refers to the value that appears most frequently within a data set and is not related to the position of values. The average, or mean, is calculated by summing all the values in the data set and dividing by the number of values, which can be skewed by extreme values. The range is the difference between the largest and smallest values in a data set, providing a measure of dispersion rather than central tendency. These distinctions highlight why the median is the correct choice for identifying the middle value in an ordered data set.