Calculating a median in SQL Server
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SQL Server does not come with a median or mode (for that matter) function outside of Analysis Services. Does anyone know of a good T-SQL method of implementing a true median. I'd prefer not having to use temporary tables but I'm not ruling them out.
A median is defined as the middle value of a set of numbers when the data are ranked in order. The position of the median value is determined by (n plus 1)/2 where n is the number of elements in the set and it can be halfway between two values in the set if n is not even. The mode is the value in the set that occurs most frequently.
Thanks!
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Try this. Not sure it is the best or always works.
create table MyTable
( MyID int
)
go
insert MyTable select 1
insert MyTable select 3
insert MyTable select 5
insert MyTable select 12
insert MyTable select 15
insert MyTable select 7
insert MyTable select 17
go
select *
from MyTable
declare @i int
select @i = count(*)
from MyTable
if @i % 2 = 0
select @i = @i / 2
else
select @i = (@i / 2) + 1
select @i
set rowcount @i
select @i = MyID
from MyTable
order by MyID
select @i
drop table MyTable
Steve Jones
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/way0utwest
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
My Blog: www.voiceofthedba.com -
That is an interesting approach, Steve. I notice that I did steer you wrong in my definitions above. The median can be halfway in between two elements of the set if n IS even. So if our number set was 1,3,5,12,15,7,17, and 8 then the median would be at the 4.5th position and so would be halfway between 7 and 8 and so would equal 7.5
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Steve,
Expanding your method I have a solution which, I think, will work (even if it is rather clunky!):
create table MyTable
( MyID int
)
go
insert MyTable select 1
insert MyTable select 3
insert MyTable select 5
insert MyTable select 12
insert MyTable select 15
insert MyTable select 7
insert MyTable select 17
insert MyTable select 8
go
select *
from MyTable
declare @n int
declare @n2 int
declare @median decimal(9,2)
select @n = count(*)
from MyTable
if (@n +1) % 2 = 0
begin
select @n = (@n+1) / 2
select @n
select @n2=@n+1
set rowcount @n
select @n = MyID
from MyTable
order by MyID
select @n
end
else
begin
select @n = (@n+1) / 2
select @n
select @n2=@n+1
set rowcount @n
select @n = MyID
from MyTable
order by MyID
select @n
set rowcount @n2
select @n2 = MyID
from MyTable
order by MyID
select @n2
select @median = (cast(@n as decimal(9,2)) + cast(@n2 as decimal(9,2)))/2.0
select @median
end
drop table MyTable
set rowcount 0
Edited by - tgrignon@compusense.com on 01/29/2002 3:39:57 PM
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Another approach:
DECLARE @n int
DECLARE @SQL nvarchar(255)
SET @n = (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM MyTable)
IF @n % 2 = 0
IF @n = 2
SET @SQL = 'SELECT AVG(MyID) Median FROM MyTable'
ELSE
SET @SQL = 'SELECT AVG(MyId) Median FROM (SELECT TOP 2 MyID FROM '
+ '(SELECT TOP ' + CAST(((@n / 2) + 1) AS varchar)
+ ' MyID FROM MyTable ORDER BY MyID DESC) A ORDER BY MyID ASC) B'
ELSE
SET @SQL = 'SELECT TOP 1 MyID Median FROM (SELECT TOP '
+ CAST(((@n / 2) + 1) AS varchar)
+ ' MyID FROM MyTable ORDER BY MyID ASC) A ORDER BY MyID DESC'
EXEC(@SQL)
K. Brian Kelley
http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/bkelley/
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
Thanks Brian! That approach seems to work and is considerably more elegant than my approach. There is one assumption that seems to be important with it, though, and that is that the numbers that come into it are decimal or float. If the numbers are integer this strategy will not give the decimal portion if it is present.
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What happens if we replace AVG(MyID) with AVG(CAST(MyID AS Decimal(9,2))) to ensure SQL is averaging a decimal value?
K. Brian Kelley
http://qa.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/bkelley/
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
That would do the trick!!! Thanks again.
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Nice Brian.
Steve Jones
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/way0utwest
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
My Blog: www.voiceofthedba.com -
I'm struggling with trying to create a UDF out of Brian's solution. Is it possible to pass a recordset to an UDF and return the median? I was hoping to use this UDF as an aggregate function but I have doubts that this is possible. Anyone know?
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Thought this would work, but the table datatype (from bol)
table
A special data type used to store a result set for later processing. The table data type can be used only to define local variables of type table or the return value of a user-defined function.
You might be able to get this to work, but would need a temp table and reference that from the UDF. Or a perm table.
Steve Jones
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/way0utwest
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
My Blog: www.voiceofthedba.com -
It is an old listing but I need this solution for getting Median along with other aggregates in my query single select statement based on specific group by clause.
Anybody got any brighter ideas to add to Brian's solution so that it can be efficiently used like AVG function.
I wonder why MS didn't provide it
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