Which term describes the middle value in a set of numbers when arranged in order?

The term that describes the middle value in a set of numbers when arranged in order is the median. To determine the median, one must first organize the data in ascending order. If the number of values in the data set is odd, the median is the middle number. If the number of values is even, the median is the average of the two middle numbers. This measure is particularly useful in statistics as it gives a sense of the central tendency of the data set without being affected by extreme values, or outliers.

In contrast, the mode refers to the value that appears most frequently in a dataset, which does not necessarily speak to the central location of the data. The mean is the average of all values in the set, calculated by adding all numbers together and dividing by the count of numbers. The range represents the difference between the highest and lowest values in a dataset, which provides information on the spread of the values rather than their central location. Hence, the median is specifically focused on finding that central point in a set of numbers.