xlpMEDIAN

PrecisionCalc
xl Precision
Get Your Numbers Right

xlpMEDIAN

Returns the median of the numeric arguments, with up to 32,767 significant digits of precision. Same as Excel's built-in MEDIAN function, but with high precision.

The median is the middle number if all the numbers were to be sorted by value. If there are an even number of numbers, then the middle two numbers are averaged.

Median is used in place of average when very large or very small numbers might skew the average far away from middle numbers.

Syntax

xlpMEDIAN(numlist...,,format)

numlist...	Required. The list of numbers and/or cell ranges for which to find the median. Accepts up to 29 numlist arguments, or up to 28 if the optional format argument is used. Ignores text that can't be evaluated to a number. Ignores blank cells.
format	Optional. Determines formatting options (formatting negatives with parentheses instead of a leading hyphen, adding thousands separators, adding currency symbol, and formatting in exponential notation), and setting maximum significant digits. Any argument that begins with the text "format:" (must include the colon at the end) is evaluated as a format argument. Each of the four format options can be used individually in separate arguments, or any number of them can be combined in the same argument. When combining multiple format options into one format argument: The text "format:" need only appear at the beginning. The text "negative", thousands", "currency", "exponent", and/or "MSD=" can appear anywhere after the text "format:". Any uninterrupted series of numeric digits appearing right after the text "MSD=" are taken to be the number of maximum significant digits. See below for examples of valid and invalid combination format values. Must be enclosed in double quotes ("") if included directly in an xlpAVERAGE argument. Double quotes are not necessary if the format argument references a cell in which the format argument is entered. May be included anywhere in the series of xlpAVERAGE arguments -- can be the first argument, or the last, or anywhere in-between. The format argument is not case sensitive.
	format value	Result
	format:negative	If return value is negative, it is formatted with parentheses ("()") instead of the default leading hyphen ("-"). You can also format negatives with a red font.
	format:thousands	Return value is formatted with thousands separators (commas in English).
	format:currency	Return value is formatted with the local currency symbol. The currency symbol will be added either to the beginning or to the end of the result, whichever is appropriate for the locale.
	format:exponent	Return value is formatted in exponential notation.
	format:MSD=n	Determines the maximum number of significant digits to be returned. Default is 100, or the user's custom maximum set in the About box, or the maximum number allowed by the edition of xlPrecision, whichever is less.
	Examples of valid combination format values
	format:negative,thousands,currency,MSD=200 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, and MSD=200)
	format: negative - thousands - currency - MSD=75 blah blah this extra text is ignored (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, and MSD=75)
	format:negativethousandscurrencyMSD=1000 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, and MSD=1000)
	FORMAT:NEGATIVE,THOUSANDS,CURRENCY,MSD=200 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, and MSD=200)
	Format:Negative,Thousands,cUrReNcY,msD=200 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, and MSD=200)
	format:MSD=200,thousands,negative,currency (recognizes MSD=200, thousands, negative, and currency)
	format:MSD=200 blah blah this extra text is ignored negative (recognizes MSD=200 and negative)
	format:currency,thousands (recognizes currency and thousands)
	Examples of invalid combination format values
	format negative,thousands,currency,MSD=200 (missing colon (:) after "format")
	format = negative,thousands,currency,MSD=200 (missing colon (:) after "format")
	Examples of partially valid combination format values
	format:negative,thousands,currency,MSD200 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, BUT missing "=" after "MSD")
	format:negative,thousands,currency,MSD:200 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, BUT missing "=" after "MSD")
	format:negative,thousand,currency,MSD=200 (recognizes negative, currency, and MSD=200, BUT "thousands" is misspelled as "thousand")
	format:negative,thousands,currency,MSD=1,000 (recognizes negative, thousands, currency, BUT MSD is recognized as 1, not 1000, because the comma (",") is not a numeric digit)

Remarks

xlPrecision results are returned as text that look like numbers, not as values that Excel recognizes as numbers. This is because Excel would truncate the results to 15 significant digits if it recognized them as numbers.
format:negative, format:thousands, format:currency, and format:exponent are all ignored by the 25 SD edition of xlPrecision.
format:thousands and format:exponent ignored by the 35 SD edition of xlPrecision.
format:MSD=n is ignored if it is higher than the maximum significant digits allowed by the edition of xlPrecision.
Use format:MSD=n to increase calculation speed where desired. The lower the number used, the faster the calculation.
numlist can accept cells with both numbers and text.
numlist can accept cells with text formatted with the local currency symbol and thousands separators, and negatives can be formatted with either a leading hyphen or parentheses.
You can use the results of xlPrecision functions as the operands in other xlPrecision formulas without losing any precision, but using them as operands in Excel's arithmetic functions will truncate them to 15 significant digits.
If the return value is so large that it has more than 32,767 characters to the left of the decimal, then xlPrecision is of course unable to return a correct value and instead returns "#VALUE!". Note, that's a vastly larger number than Excel can return without xlPrecision. Excel itself can only return or recognize a number with no more than 308 digits to the left of the decimal.
Decimal symbols, thousands separators, and currency symbols are all localized. This means that an xlPrecision formula that returns "$1,234,567.89" in the USA will return "1.234.567,89 €" in Germany, "1 234 567,89 €" in France, "1 234 567.89 kr" in Estonia, and "1.234.567,89Lek" in Albania.
The 32,767 SD edition can only provide a maximum of 32,767 total characters, including all formatting characters such as decimal, leading hyphen or parentheses for negatives, and thousands separators. As a result, it can only return the maximum 32,767 significant digits when the result is an unformatted positive integer. This is due to Excel's limitation of 32,767 characters in a cell. In all cases, the 32,767 SD edition will give you as many significant digits as possible with the formatting you have chosen.
Depending on how many significant digits the edition of xlPrecision provides, the result may be too long to conveniently view. You can view the full result by right-clicking the cell and choosing Format Cells | Alignment | Wrap Text, and widening the column to the width of the screen. An easy way to view the full result without changing column widths or wrapping text is to right-click the cell, choose Copy, and then paste into Notepad or a word processor.

Examples

Formula

Description

Result

=xlpMEDIAN(1,2,3)

Median of 1, 2, and 3

=xlpMEDIAN(1,20,300,4000)

Median of 1, 20, 300, and 4000

160
(average of 20 and 300)

=xlpMEDIAN(1.1,5.5,3.3,6.6,2.2,4.4)

Median of 1.1, 5.5, 3.3, 6.6, 2.2, and 4.4

3.85
(average of 3.3 and 4.4)

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:B2)

	A	B
1	1	4
2	3	2

Median of values in cells A1:B2

2.5

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3)

	A	B	C
1	1	abc	7
2	2	5
3	3	6	9

Median of values in cells A1:C3, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2)

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3,"format:negative,thousands,currency")

	A	B	C
1	10,000	abc	-70,000
2	20,000	50,000	-80,000
3	30,000	60,000	-90,000

Median of values in cells A1:C3, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2), and formatting with parentheses for negatives, with thousands separators, and with local currency symbol

($15,000)

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3,format:negative,thousands,currency)

	A	B	C
1	10,000	abc	-70,000
2	20,000	50,000	-80,000
3	30,000	60,000	-90,000

Median of values in cells A1:C3, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2), and with double quotes missing from around formatting argument

-15000
(missing double quotes around format argument)
(length depends on xlPrecision edition)

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3,A4)

	A	B	C
1	10,000	abc	-70,000
2	20,000	50,000	-80,000
3	30,000	60,000	-90,000
4	format:negative,thousands,currency

Median of values in cells A1:C3 and A4, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2), and formatting with parentheses for negatives, with thousands separators, and with local currency symbol.

($15,000)

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3,A4)

	A	B	C
1	10,000	abc	-70,000
2	20,000	50,000	-80,000
3	30,000	60,000	-90,000
4	format:exponent

Median of values in cells A1:C3 and A4, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2), and formatting in exponential notation.

1.5E+4

=xlpMEDIAN(A1:C3,"format:currency",A4:A5)

	A	B	C
1	10,000	abc	-70,000
2	20,000	50,000	-80,000
3	30,000	60,000	-90,000
4	format:negative
5	format:thousands

Median of values in cells A1:C3 and A4:A5, ignoring text in cell B1 and ignoring blank cell (C2), and formatting with parentheses for negatives, with thousands separators, and with local currency symbol.

($15,000)

See Also

xlpAVERAGE
xlpMODE