In a set of seven numbers arranged in increasing value, the median is the fourth number (since there are three before and three after). To find the median, you have to find the one that’s sequentially in the middle. This is what most people are referring to when they refer to the average of some set of numbers. To get the mean of this set, you’d add up all the values (2+3+3+4+6+8+9=35) and then divide that total by the number of values (7), resulting in a mean of 5.

To illustrate the difference, let’s look at an example set of seven values: 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9. In math, though, it’s helpful to use more specific terms when determining the most representative or common value in a set of numbers. The word average is of course also very commonly used in more general ways. In contrast, the median is the middle number in a set of values when those values are arranged from smallest to largest, while the mode of a set of values is the most frequently repeated value in the set.

In the context of mathematics and statistics, the word mean refers to what’s informally called the average-the sum of a set of values divided by the number of values.

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