TOPICS
Search

Median


The word "median" has several different meanings in mathematics all related to the "middle" of mathematical objects.

The statistical median is an order statistic that gives the "middle" value x^~ of a sample. More specifically, it is the value x^~ such that an equal number of samples are less than and greater than the value (for an odd sample size), or the average of the two central values (for an even sample size). The Wolfram Language function Median[list] can be used to find the statistical median of the elements in a list.

A triangle median is the Cevian from one of its vertices to the midpoint of the opposite side. The medians intersect in a point known as the triangle centroid that is sometimes also called the median point.

Similarly, a tetrahedron median is a line joining a vertex of a tetrahedron to the geometric centroid of the opposite face.

The median of a trapezoid is the line segment determined by the midpoints of the two nonparallel sides.


See also

Median Triangle, Statistical Median, Tetrahedron Median, Trapezoid, Triangle Centroid, Triangle Median Explore this topic in the MathWorld classroom

Explore with Wolfram|Alpha

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Median." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Median.html

Subject classifications