Learn How to Calculate the Median from a Frequency Table in Excel
Calculating the median from a frequency table is not as straightforward as many would want to think. Note that when working with a frequency table, the numbers might be repeating themselves a number of times and thus this might make it a little bit hard for us to get the median.
It is good to remember that the median is the middle number in a given list of numbers. If the total number is odd, then the median will be the middle one. But if the list is an even number, then we shall have to take n/2 + (n+1)/2 to get the median.
But how do you get the median when you have a frequency table?
This post provides an easy way on how one can get the median from a frequency table.
Figure 1. Final result
Procedure
- For us to get the median of values in a frequency table, we first need to tabulate our table with the values and the number of times the values occur. This is as shown in figure 1 above where we have the values in column A and their frequencies in column B.
- After that, we need to get the maximum number in the array so that we can have columns equal the total number of values in the list. This is as shown from cell D1:M10. Notice that the max value is 10.
- We then have the following formula in cell D2;
=IF(D$1>$B2,"",$A2)
- We then copy this formula across the entire range, from cell D2:M11. This will bring each individual number and not as a frequency.
- After that, we use the normal excel MEDIAN function to get the median of the array of values as shown below;
=MEDIAN(D2:M11)
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