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Subject: MEDIAN
There has been some heated argument on the Gnumeric list regarding the definition of the MEDIAN function. Apparently some, at least one, do not like the term "sort" in this context since one can calculate the median without sorting the data. Prof. J.C. Nash of the University of Ottawa then (after likening the discussion to the historical argument of how many angels fit onto the tip of a needle) said that if he would write the definition of the median in the OpenFormula TC he may want to change a single word there: MEDIAN logically _ranks_ the numbers (lowest to highest). If given an odd number of values, MEDIAN returns the middle value. If given an even number of values, MEDIAN returns the arithmetic average of the two middle values. (The change is to replace "sorts" with "ranks" as indicated.) And of course to make a similar replacement in teh formula description that follows. I would like to propose that change to the TC. (Since it does not make any difference in the definition but may remove some future arguments.) Andreas -- Prof. Dr. Andreas J. Guelzow Dept. of Mathematical & Computing Sciences Concordia University College of Alberta
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