Answer: Median = 34
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Step-by-step explanation:
Count the number of leaves for each stem.
The first row has 5 leaves, the next has 8, and so on.
This is the list of leaf counts for each row when reading from top to bottom.
Add those leaf counts to get 5+8+8+7+3 = 31
There are 31 leaves total to represent the n = 31 values in this data set.
The median is in slot n/2 = 31/2 = 15.5 = 16 which is at the exact center.
Notice how 5+8 = 13 is too small compared to slot 16
But 5+8+8 = 21 is too big. Therefore, the median in slot 16 is somewhere in the third row.
Specifically, it's the third item in that row because 13+3 = 16
The third item in the the third row is the leaf 4. It pairs with the stem 3
stem = 3 and leaf = 4 combine to the value 34. The median is 34.
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Another way to find the median:
Start with the first leaf in the first row (that value being 6). It pairs up with the last leaf in the last row (that value is 5). Cross those outer-most values from the list.
Repeat that step with the next outer-most values (7 in row one and 2 in row five). This process of crossing out the outer-most values will gradually narrow the list down until we approach the very middle item. You should arrive at the "4" in the third row.
This process is longer than the first method in the previous section, but it might be handy to see it being visual like this.