Reference · Statistics

stats.median

stats.median(list) -> num

What it does

The middle value of a list of numbers, as Python's statistics.median. The list need not be sorted. With an odd count it is the middle data point, and an int stays an int. With an even count it is the mean of the two middle values, a float.

Examples

print(stats.median([1, 3, 2]), stats.median([1, 2, 3, 4]))print(stats.median([1, 2, 4, 4]), stats.median([1.0, 3.0, 2.0]))

2 2.53.0 2.0

Edge cases

• One number gives that number.
• An even count gives a float even when the two middle values are the same: [2, 2] gives 2.0.
• If any item is a float, the answer is a float, also with an odd count.
• Ties are fine; only the position matters.

print(stats.median([3]), stats.median([2, 2]), stats.median([1, 2.0, 3]))print(stats.median([5, 5, 5, 1, 9]))

3 2.0 2.05

Errors

The median of no data is a runtime error, not an error value: an empty list or null stops the request. So does an item that is not a number.

print(stats.median([]))

line 1: `stats.median` requires at least one data point

print(stats.median(["a", "b"]))

line 1: `stats.median` expects a list of numbers, but item 0 is str

Chaining

print([9, 1, 5, 3] | stats.median)print(([9, 1, 5, 3] | stats.median) == stats.percentile([9, 1, 5, 3], 50))

4.0true

See also

stats.median_low, stats.median_high, stats.mean, stats.percentile, stats.quantiles

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