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median

Median value of array

Description

M = median(A) returns the median value of A.

  • If A is a vector, then median(A) returns the median value of A.

  • If A is a nonempty matrix, then median(A) treats the columns of A as vectors and returns a row vector of median values.

  • If A is an empty 0-by-0 matrix, median(A) returns NaN.

  • If A is a multidimensional array, then median(A) treats the values along the first array dimension whose size does not equal 1 as vectors. The size of M in this dimension becomes 1, while the sizes of all other dimensions remain the same as in A.

  • If A is a table or timetable, then median(A) returns a one-row table containing the median of each variable. (since R2023a)

median returns natively in the class of A, such that class(M) = class(A).

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M = median(A,"all") returns the median over all elements of A.

example

M = median(A,dim) returns the median of elements along dimension dim. For example, if A is a matrix, then median(A,2) returns a column vector containing the median value of each row.

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M = median(A,vecdim) returns the median based on the dimensions specified in the vector vecdim. For example, if A is a matrix, then median(A,[1 2]) returns the median of all elements in A because every element of a matrix is contained in the array slice defined by dimensions 1 and 2.

example

M = median(___,missingflag) specifies whether to include or omit missing values in A for any of the previous syntaxes. For example, median(A,"omitmissing") ignores all missing values when computing the median. By default, median includes missing values.

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M = median(___,Weights=W) specifies a weighting scheme W and returns the weighted median. (since R2024a)

example

Examples

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Define a 4-by-3 matrix.

A = [0 1 1; 2 3 2; 1 3 2; 4 2 2]
A = 4×3

     0     1     1
     2     3     2
     1     3     2
     4     2     2

Find the median value of each column.

M = median(A)
M = 1×3

    1.5000    2.5000    2.0000

For each column, the median value is the mean of the middle two numbers in sorted order.

Define a 2-by-3 matrix.

A = [0 1 1; 2 3 2]
A = 2×3

     0     1     1
     2     3     2

Find the median value of each row.

M = median(A,2)
M = 2×1

     1
     2

For each row, the median value is the middle number in sorted order.

Create a 1-by-3-by-4 array of integers between 1 and 10.

rng('default')
A = randi(10,[1,3,4])
A = 
A(:,:,1) =

     9    10     2


A(:,:,2) =

    10     7     1


A(:,:,3) =

     3     6    10


A(:,:,4) =

    10     2    10

Find the median values of this 3-D array along the second dimension.

M = median(A)
M = 
M(:,:,1) =

     9


M(:,:,2) =

     7


M(:,:,3) =

     6


M(:,:,4) =

    10

This operation produces a 1-by-1-by-4 array by computing the median of the three values along the second dimension. The size of the second dimension is reduced to 1.

Compute the median along the first dimension of A.

M = median(A,1);
isequal(A,M)
ans = logical
   1

This command returns the same array as A because the size of the first dimension is 1.

Create a 3-D array and compute the median over each page of data (rows and columns).

A(:,:,1) = [2 4; -2 1];
A(:,:,2) = [6 2; -5 3];
A(:,:,3) = [4 4; 7 -3];
M1 = median(A,[1 2])
M1 = 
M1(:,:,1) =

    1.5000


M1(:,:,2) =

    2.5000


M1(:,:,3) =

     4

To compute the median over all dimensions of an array, you can either specify each dimension in the vector dimension argument, or use the "all" option.

M2 = median(A,[1 2 3])
M2 = 
2.5000
Mall = median(A,"all")
Mall = 
2.5000

Define a 1-by-4 vector of 8-bit integers.

A = int8(1:4)
A = 1x4 int8 row vector

   1   2   3   4

Compute the median value.

M = median(A)
M = int8

3
class(M)
ans = 
'int8'

M is the mean of the middle two numbers in sorted order returned as an 8-bit integer.

Create a matrix containing NaN values.

A = [1.77 -0.005 NaN -2.95; NaN 0.34 NaN 0.19]
A = 2×4

    1.7700   -0.0050       NaN   -2.9500
       NaN    0.3400       NaN    0.1900

Compute the median values of the matrix, excluding missing values. For matrix columns that contain any NaN value, the median is computed over non-NaN elements. For matrix columns that contain all NaN values, the median is NaN.

M = median(A,"omitmissing")
M = 1×4

    1.7700    0.1675       NaN   -1.3800

Since R2024a

Create a matrix and compute the weighted median of the matrix according to a weighting scheme specified by W. The median function applies the weighting scheme to each column in A.

A = [1 1; 7 9; 1 9; 1 9; 6 2];
W = [1 2 1 2 3]';
M = median(A,Weights=W)
M = 1×2

     6     9

For each column, the median value is the mean of the middle two numbers in sorted order.

Input Arguments

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Input data, specified as a vector, matrix, multidimensional array, table, or timetable.

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64 | logical | categorical | datetime | duration | table | timetable

Dimension to operate along, specified as a positive integer scalar. If you do not specify the dimension, then the default is the first array dimension whose size does not equal 1.

Dimension dim indicates the dimension whose length reduces to 1. The size(M,dim) is 1, while the sizes of all other dimensions remain the same.

Consider an m-by-n input matrix, A:

  • median(A,1) computes the median of the elements in each column of A and returns a 1-by-n row vector.

    median(A,1) column-wise operation

  • median(A,2) computes the median of the elements in each row of A and returns an m-by-1 column vector.

    median(A,2) row-wise operation

median returns A when dim is greater than ndims(A).

Vector of dimensions, specified as a vector of positive integers. Each element represents a dimension of the input array. The lengths of the output in the specified operating dimensions are 1, while the others remain the same.

Consider a 2-by-3-by-3 input array, A. Then median(A,[1 2]) returns a 1-by-1-by-3 array whose elements are the medians of each page of A.

Mapping of a 2-by-3-by-3 input array to a 1-by-1-by-3 output array

Missing value condition, specified as one of the values in this table.

ValueInput Data TypeDescription
"includemissing"All supported data types

Include missing values in A when computing the median. If any element in the operating dimension is missing, then the corresponding element in M is missing.

"includenan"double, single, duration
"includenat"datetime
"includeundefined"categorical
"omitmissing"All supported data typesIgnore missing values in A, and compute the median over fewer points. If all elements in the operating dimension are missing, then the corresponding element in M is missing.
"omitnan"double, single, duration
"omitnat"datetime
"omitundefined"categorical

Since R2024a

Weighting scheme, specified as a vector, matrix, or multidimensional array. The elements of W must be nonnegative.

If you specify a weighting scheme, median returns the weighted median, which is the value in A associated with a cumulative 50% of the weights specified by W [1]. The weighted median is less affected by extreme values compared to the standard median.

If W is a vector, it must have the same length as the operating dimension. Otherwise, W must have the same size as the input data.

If the input data A is a table or timetable, then W must be a vector.

You cannot specify this argument if you specify vecdim or "all".

Data Types: double | single

Algorithms

For ordinal categorical arrays, MATLAB® interprets the median of an even number of elements as follows:

If the number of categories between the middle two values is ...Then the median is ...
zero (values are from consecutive categories)larger of the two middle values
an odd numbervalue from category occurring midway between the two middle values
an even numbervalue from larger of the two categories occurring midway between the two middle values

References

[1] “Weighted median.” In Wikipedia, May 21 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weighted_median.

Extended Capabilities

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

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See Also

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