GMAT Math : Calculating median

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GMAT Math

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

Example Questions

Example Question #11 : Median

Consider the data set 

What is its median?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Arrange the elements in ascending order:

There are ten elements, so the median is the arithmetic mean of the fifth- and sixth-highest elements, which are . This mean is 

Example Question #11 : Calculating Median

Sally is collecting information about the lengths of tree branches that fell in her back yard during a powerful storm the night before. With her trusty measuring stick, she measures out 10 different branches and finds their lengths in feet to be

 

Calculate the median of the branch lengths

Possible Answers:

5

6.5

9.5

9

6.4

Correct answer:

6.5

Explanation:

In order to find the median, we first have to order the data points from lowest to highest. This would be-

 

.

 

Since we have an even number of data points, the median is the mean average of the middle two numbers, .

 

Hence our answer is 

Example Question #13 : Median

 employees of Company X are randomly selected. Given their ages listed below, what is the median age of the employees of Company X?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We start by sorting the ages from youngest to oldest:

19  21  23  24  25  29  33  37  38  42  43  47  48  53  68

The median is the number in the middle position, we have fifteen numbers so the middle position in this set is the 8th position (we get 7 numbers on each side of the 8th number)

37 is at the 8th position, therefore 37 is the median age.

Example Question #14 : Median

What is the value of  if  is the difference between the range and the median of the numbers in the list?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the median, let's rewrite the list in ascending order:

5, 5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 22, 27, 39

The median is the midpoint value such that half of the values are lower than the median and the other half of the values are higher than the median.

The median is 12.

The range is the difference between the highest and the lowest number in the list. The range is: 39-5=34

 

The difference between the range and the median is 22.

Example Question #1 : How To Find Median

67, 73, 85, 83, 80, 73, 94, 65, 80, 73, 98, 59, 76

The list above shows a ninth grader's grades for the academic year. What is the difference between the median and the mode of these grades?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the median, sort the numbers from smallest to largest:

59, 65, 67, 73, 73, 73, 76, 80, 80, 83, 85, 94, 98

The median is the middle value in a list of numbers, it is the number separating the higher half of a data sample or a list of numbers from the lower half.

The median of the grades is 76.

The mode is the value occurring most often. The most occurring value in the list of numbers given is 73. So, the mode is 73.

Example Question #15 : Median

Determine the median of the following set of data:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The median of a set of data is the entry located exactly in the middle when the entries are arranged in increasing order. If there are an odd number of entries arranged in increasing order, the median will be the middle entry. If there are an even number of entries arranged in increasing order, the median will be the average of the middle two entries. Our first step, then, is to arrange the given set in increasing order:

    

Now that our set is in order from least to greatest, we can see that the value of 6 is located exactly in the middle of the set, so this is the median.

Example Question #16 : Median

Find the median of the following set of data:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The median of a set of data is the entry located directly in the middle when the entries are arranged in increasing order. The first step, then, is to arrange the given set of data in increasing order:

   

Because we have an even number of entries, we can see that no entry is located directly in the middle. When this is the case, the median is the average of the middle two entries, which gives us:

Example Question #11 : Median

Determine the median for the following set of numbers.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To find the median, sort the numbers and determine which one is in the middle.

Since  splits the middle,  is your median.

Example Question #11 : Calculating Median

Find the median of the following set of numbers:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The median is the middle number when the numbers are sorted from smallest to largest. Since they are already sorted, the answer is .

Example Question #12 : Calculating Median

Find the median of the following data set:

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Find the median of the following data set:

 

To find median, we must first arrange our terms in ascending order.

So...

Now, our median will be the term directly in the middle of our data set. In this case, the median is 117.

Tired of practice problems?

Try live online GMAT prep today.

1-on-1 Tutoring
Live Online Class
1-on-1 + Class
Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors