Final answer:
The median number of hours worked by the five employees, after ordering the data points from least to greatest (12, 26, 39, 42, 55), is found to be 39 hours, which is the middle value in the ordered list.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the median number of hours worked by the five employees, we need to first list the number of hours each employee worked in ascending order. The numbers given are 42, 26, 39, 12, 55. In order, they are 12, 26, 39, 42, 55. Since there are five data points, the median will be the middle number, which in this case is the third number when listed in order.
Here is the ordered list:
12 hours
26 hours
39 hours (Median)
42 hours
55 hours
The median number of hours worked is 39 hours.