To determine the median of an ordered list, you need to identify the middle number or calculate the average of the two middle numbers.

The median is a key measure of central tendency that indicates the middle value in a dataset. To find the median, first ensure that your list of numbers is sorted in ascending order. If the list is not sorted, you must arrange it accordingly.

Once your list is sorted, the process for finding the median depends on whether the number of values in the list is odd or even.

• If the list contains an odd number of values, the median is the value located directly in the center. For example, in the ordered list $[3, 5, 7]$, the median is $5$, as it is the middle number.

• If the list has an even number of values, the median is computed as the average of the two middle numbers. For instance, in the ordered list $[2, 4, 6, 8]$, the two middle numbers are $4$ and $6$. To find the median, you add these two numbers together and divide by $2$, resulting in:

It is important to note that the median is a robust measure of central tendency, as it is not influenced by extremely high or low values. This characteristic makes it particularly useful for analyzing skewed distributions.