Descriptive Statistics

Median

The median is the middle value of a dataset when all values are sorted in ascending order. Unlike the mean, it is not affected by extreme values. This is why it is preferred for describing salariés or property prices: saying the median salary is 2,100 EUR means half of all workers earn less and the other half earn more.

Standard deviation

Standard deviation measures how spread out the data is around the mean. A low standard deviation indicates values are clustered near the average, while a high one reveals significant variability. In finance, the standard deviation of an asset's returns serves as a measure of risk: the higher it is, the more volatile and uncertain the investment.

Which metric to choose

Use the median when your data contains outliers or is heavily skewed, such as income distributions or sale prices. Use standard deviation when you need to quantify risk or the consistency of a process, for example comparing the volatility of two investment funds or measuring how reliably a supplier meets delivery deadlines.