Solved – Notation for median in a formula

mediannotation

In a function, how should the median be denoted correctly?

Normally, one would use the tilde like this:

$$
Y = \tilde{X}
$$

However, it is stated here that

"There is no widely accepted standard notation for the median, but some authors represent the median of a variable x either as x͂ or as μ1/2 sometimes also M."

Therefore my question is, if it is also possible to use the median of a set of numbers like this (or else) when referring to it in the text? Since I have a variable with a lot of indices, the tilde doesn't seem right here.

$$
Y = {\rm med}\{1,2,3,3,4,5\}
$$

or

$$
Y = {\rm med}\{X^{imnkl}\}
$$

Best Answer

As Wikipedia says there is no standard notation so if it is clear in the text you can use any notation you want.

For example if you state precisely that for any set of integers $A$, $med(A)$ represents the median of the set $A$ then you can use this notation as in your example.

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