Average

In mathematics, there are numerous methods for calculating the average or central tendency of a list of n numbers. The most common method, and the one generally referred to simply as the average, is the arithmetic mean. Please see the table of mathematical symbols for explanations of the symbols used.

Median

The median is the value below which 50% of the scores fall, or the middle score ( 1/2 of the population will have values less than the median and 1/2 of the population will have values greater than the median ). Where there is an even number of scores, the median is the mean of the two centermost scores. It is primarily used for skewed distributions, which it represents more accurately than the arithmetic mean. (Consider {1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 9} again: the median is 2, in this case, a much better indication of central tendency than the arithmetic mean of 3.16. Also note that 1/2 of the scores, namely{1,2,2}, have values less than the median and the other half, namely {2,3,9}, have values greater than the median.)

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