Company 1
E-mini S&P 500 Index Futures, Se (Yahoo! Finance, 2016)
Mean Price: 2153.194
Median Price: 2163.25
Company 2
Nasdaq Composite (Yahoo! Finance, 2016)
Mean Price: 5070.243
Median Price: 5081.915
Mean vs Median
Mean and Median are both statistical parameters which describes a certain set of data. Though they are both situated in the middle value of a data set, their actual values are different due to certain reasons. First, mean is the average of the whole data set, meaning, when each of the data is added up and then divided with the total number of data, then mean is obtained. On the other hand, median is obtained by determining the middle value of the data set when arranged in its ascending order. This only means that the possibility of difference between mean and median is very high, especially if the given data set does not include the actual value of mean. Nevertheless, both parameters are important in their respective purposes, and also depending on the data set.
However, the main difference between the mean and the median lies on the given data set. While the value of the median is unaffected as long as the order of the values is defined, and as a result, the interpretation of the median value will be the true middle value. However, for the mean, if there is even a single extreme value, or an outlier, the value of the mean will be greatly affected depending whether the outlier has an extremely low value (the mean value is expected to lower), or an extremely high (the mean value is expected to be high). As such, it is important to examine the data set first, and obtain both mean and median values to determine which of the two produces a more accurate data interpretation.
References
Yahoo! Finance. (2016). NASDAQ Composite. Yahoo! Retrieved 05 August, 2016.
Yahoo! Finance. (2016). S&P 500. Yahoo! Retrieved 05 August, 2016.
