What is the term for the measure of center in a set of numerical data?

The term for the measure of center in a set of numerical data is the median. The median is defined as the middle value when a data set is organized in ascending or descending order. If the data set has an odd number of observations, the median is the value that falls right in the center. For an even number of observations, the median is the average of the two middle values. This makes the median a robust measure of central tendency, especially useful in datasets with outliers, as it provides a better representation of the central location of the data compared to measures that can be influenced by extreme values.

In contrast, the mean is calculated by summing all values and dividing by the number of values, which can be skewed by outliers. The mode refers to the most frequently occurring value in a dataset. The range, representing the difference between the highest and lowest values, does not provide information about centrality at all. These distinctions highlight why the median is specifically recognized as a measure of center in data analysis.