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There are 100 employees in a company. 46 employees have salary 20, 000 ${$}$, 25 employees have salary 30, 000${$}$, 16 employees have salary 40, 000${$}$, 11 employees have salary 60, 000${$}$ & 2 employees have salary 150, 000${$}$. What is the median of salaries?

my try: arranging salaries in increasing order as 20000, 30000, 40000, 60,000, 150,000 now the median of given salaries $$=(\frac{5+1}{2})th\ term=3rd \ term=40, 000{$}$$ I don't know if I am correct. please explain me if I am wrong & give me the correct answer. Thanks

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    No, you're ignoring the number of employees with each salary. With your numbers there are only $16+11+2=29$ employees who earn 40,000 or more, which is less than half of them all. So 40,000 is not the median. – 2017-02-04
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    can you explain me or give me the answer? – 2017-02-04

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The median is the value that divides the distribution in two. So you have to order the salaries with their multiplicity and take the value that lies in the middle. Since you have an even number of salaries, the median corresponds to the 50th and 51st values, but only if they are the same: this holds in your case and, therefore, your median is 30k$.

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    I didn't get how you found 30k $? please show me procedure to reach answer. – 2017-02-04
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    You have to sort the salaries in increasing order obtaining an array of 100 elements, whereby: 46 elements have value 20k, 25 elements have value 30k, and so on. Now, the median is the value that lies in the middle of your array. However, since your array has 100 elements, you must pick the two values that lies in the middle of your array, i.e., the 49th element and the 51st element, which both have value 30k. – 2017-02-04