Microsoft Excel is much more than just a simple table in which you can sort and display data. It can also be used to perform formulas or mathematical operations on sets of data. This means that you can find all sorts of useful values. You can even learn how to find the median in Excel with a specific formula.
It’s common for various math or statistics classes or organizations to ask you to quickly find common values like the median, mode, or range. Excel has simple ways to determine all of this information once you have entered your data into the spreadsheet.
Excel is a highly useful spreadsheet application that can be used to find the median of data. The median is the middle value in a set of numbers. It’s commonly used to represent an average or just another way to analyze data.
This blog post will explain how to find the median in Excel.
How to Get a Median for a Group of Cells in Excel
- Open your spreadsheet.
- Click inside the cell where you want the median.
- Type =MEDIAN(XX:YY) but replace “XX” with the first cell in the range, and replace “YY” with the last cell in the range.
- Press Enter on your keyboard.
Our article continues below with additional information on finding a median in Excel for Office 365, including pictures of these steps.
Once you have your data finalized in your spreadsheet, check out our how to remove page watermark in Excel guide and learn how to customize the layout of the spreadsheet pages.
What Is a Median?
A median is a statistical measure of the middle value in a series. The median is calculated by arranging all values from least to greatest and selecting the number corresponding to where half of these numbers fall below, and half are above. The median is the middle number in a set of numbers.
The word “median” comes from Latin meaning “middle.” Median can also refer to an important point on a curve or line. It’s used in statistics to find what falls right in the middle of data sets. This data can then help people understand more about their surroundings through things like polls or surveys.
If you’re calculating the median using an online calculator or spreadsheet application, the first step is to arrange your data so it’s arranged from least or smallest value to greatest or largest value. Once done, find where exactly halfway up your list falls by counting how many items are before it and how many come after it.
In order for Excel to calculate the median, you will need at least five pieces of data because it needs one piece in each position.
How to Calculate Median with the Excel Median Function
A median is a number that divides data into two, such as 50% of people making less than $50k and 50% of people making more than $50k. You can use the Median function in Excel to do so.
All you need to figure out is which column contains your values and then input it into the function like this: =MEDIAN(R2:R11).
This would assume that the range of data for which you wish to find the median is located in cells R2 through R11.
If there are an odd number of cells in your group of numbers, then when you hit Enter on your keyboard, it will tell you what the median is for all those numbers combined together. If you have an even number of values in your data range then Excel will show you the average of the two values in the middle of that range.
How to Perform a Median Calculation In Excel (Guide with Pictures)
The steps below were performed in the desktop version of the Microsoft Excel for Office 365 application. This guide assumes that you do not currently have any data in your spreadsheet. We are going to be adding the data in column A, then displaying the median in the first cell in column B.
If you want to display your data or median in a different location you will need to update the cells referenced below accordingly.
In order to calculate the median, follow the below steps:
Step 1: Open Microsoft Excel.
Step 2: Find the A1 cell and click on it.
Step 3: Enter the first number or value in the cell you want to include in the calculation.
Step 4: Press enter or select cell A2 to enter the second number.
Step 5: Continue entering data values in column A that are part of your calculation.
Step 6: To find the Median, select cell B1 and enter the following formula into the cell =Median(A:A). Press the Enter key to apply the formula.
This formula can be updated to include only the specified range of cells to include in the median calculation. For example, you could enter =MEDIAN(A1:A10) if you only wanted the median of the first 10 cell values.
More Information on How to Find the Median in Excel
As we mentioned in the section above, the formula of =MEDIAN(A:A) will find the median for every value in column A. You will need to specify cell locations of your numeric values if you only want to include some numbers in column A as part of your calculation.
If you would like to include some other common values that are determined from a range of data then you could use the following Excel functions to also display the mean, mode, and range. Following the steps below will cause those values to be displayed directly under the median that we displayed in the first row of column B in the steps above.
To find the Mean of your dataset, use the following formula after selecting cell B2: =AVERAGE(A:A).
To find the Mode of your dataset, select cell B3 and use the following formula: =MODE.MULT(A:A). Press the Enter key to apply the formula. Note that you will get a value of #N/A if you don’t have any repeating numbers in your data range.
To find the Range of your dataset, use the following formula after selecting cell B4 and use the following formula: =MAX(A:A)-MIN(A:A). Press Enter to apply the formula.
Matt Jacobs has been working as an IT consultant for small businesses since receiving his Master’s degree in 2003. While he still does some consulting work, his primary focus now is on creating technology support content for SupportYourTech.com.
His work can be found on many websites and focuses on topics such as Microsoft Office, Apple devices, Android devices, Photoshop, and more.