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Finding the median worksheets

The median is the middle value once the numbers are in order — a center that a single huge or tiny number cannot drag around. These free printable worksheets practice finding it, and nothing else.

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Finding the median
Finding the median worksheet — Ordered set, middle value, free printable with answer key

The answer key prints on a separate page.

What's on this sheet

The method is order, then middle, and the ordering is the whole of it. Numbers arrive shuffled, so a child who reaches for the middle of the row as printed lands on the wrong value; rewriting the set from smallest to largest first is the step the sheet is really training.

Why this sheet works

When the set has an even number of values there is no single middle, so the median is the mean of the two middle numbers — which can land on a half, and that is correct, not a mistake. Because the median ignores how far away the extremes are, it is the average to reach for when one number is wildly out of line with the rest.

How this one works

One question from this sheet, worked through a step at a time.

Median of 47, 6, 15, 31, 31

given:476153131
given:476153131
sorted:615313147
given:476153131
sorted:615313147
  1. The median is the one in the MIDDLE. Middle of the sorted row, though — not the row as it was given.
  2. So put them in order, smallest first.
  3. Count in from both ends. 31 is the one left in the middle, so that is the median.

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