mediaanwaarde

Mediaanwaarde, often translated as median value, is a statistical measure representing the middle value in a dataset that has been ordered from least to greatest. To find the median, all the numbers in a set are arranged sequentially. If there is an odd number of data points, the median is the single number in the exact middle. For example, in the set {2, 5, 8, 11, 14}, the median is 8. If there is an even number of data points, the median is the average of the two middle numbers. For instance, in the set {3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18}, the two middle numbers are 9 and 12, so the median is (9 + 12) / 2 = 10.5.

The median is a robust measure of central tendency, meaning it is not significantly affected by extreme values or outliers in the dataset. This makes it particularly useful when dealing with skewed data distributions, where a few very high or very low numbers could disproportionately influence the mean (average). For example, in a dataset of incomes, a few extremely high earners might inflate the mean, making it a less representative measure of typical income than the median. The median, in such cases, provides a more accurate picture of the central point of the data. It is commonly used in fields such as economics, demographics, and social sciences to describe typical values.