The measure of center that is the middle value when data is arranged in order is known as?

The measure of center that represents the middle value when data is arranged in ascending or descending order is known as the median. The median is an important statistical measure because it effectively divides a data set into two equal halves. When the data is sorted, half the values fall below the median and half above it. This is particularly useful in datasets that may contain outliers, as the median provides a better central tendency measure in such cases compared to the mean, which can be heavily influenced by extreme values.

In contrast, the mean is the arithmetic average of a data set and could be skewed by outliers. The mode refers to the most frequently occurring value in a dataset, which may not necessarily provide information about the center. Variance, on the other hand, measures the spread or dispersion of the data points around the mean, rather than providing a central value. Thus, the median is the correct terminology for the middle value in an ordered dataset.