This worksheet introduces the concept of the median, which is crucial in understanding data sets. Featuring an overview and two practical examples, students will learn to organize numbers from least to greatest to find the median. They will then apply this skill by helping Patsy and Bob assess median home prices across different Louisiana areas.

The median is important in data analysis because it helps us find the "middle" value in a group of numbers, even if there are some really big or really small numbers that might confuse the average (mean). For example, if most kids in your class scored between 60 and 80 on a test, but one kid got 100 and one got 10, the average score might not show what most kids really got. The median would be the score right in the middle, so it tells us better what a "typical" score is.