Median

The middle value when all values are sorted: half are below, half above. For skewed data such as order values or session length it describes the “typical” case better than the average.

Formulathe middle value when sorted; half below, half above

Try it · 30 seconds · from Atterna’s practice

An AI assistant

“A typical paid Meridian order is worth €61.”

Paid orders average €60.92; the median is €43.96. Is the AI right?

Preparing the practice…

How we work it through

1
Look at the distribution before choosing a summary.
2
Report the median for “typical” and the mean for totals and budgets.
3
Never average medians of groups; take the median of all rows.

On the practice dataset

The query we run on Meridian, Atterna’s practice marketplace, and what it returns.

SELECT MEDIAN(items_total_eur), AVG(items_total_eur)
FROM meridian.orders
WHERE status = 'paid';

Resultmedian €43.96, mean €60.92

The common trap

Averaging medians of groups — the median of the whole is not the average of the parts.

When an AI answers

An AI assistant

“A typical order is €61.”

What it didn’t know: It used the mean on skewed money data.
Ask back: “What is the median, and how far is it from the mean?”

Paste a real AI answer into the checker — it writes these questions for you →