Final answer:
Variation is analogous to the range in a data set, and central tendency is analogous to the median. Variation and range both describe the spread of data, while central tendency and median describe the typical or middle value of the dataset.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement 'Variation is to central tendency as range is to median' is a comparison that highlights the relationship between a measure of spread and a measure of central tendency in a set of data. Variation refers to how spread out a data set is, and it is commonly measured by the standard deviation, which indicates how far the data values are from their mean. Central tendency, on the other hand, is a summary of what a typical response looks like within a data set, encompassing measures such as the mode, median, and mean.
The range is another measure of the spread of data, representing the difference between the maximum and minimum values. It is related to the median in the same way that variation relates to central tendency; both pairs contrast a measure of how data values are distributed with a measure of where they center. Importantly, while the median is a specific type of average that divides a set of ordered data into two equal halves, the range provides the breadth of the dataset.