Which statistical function in Power BI calculates the middle value of a dataset when arranged in ascending order?

The statistical function that calculates the middle value of a dataset when arranged in ascending order is the median. The median is specifically designed to identify the point at which half of the data points in the dataset are lower and half are higher. For a dataset with an odd number of values, the median is the middle number. For datasets with an even number of values, the median is determined by calculating the average of the two middle numbers. This makes the median a robust measure of central tendency, particularly useful when dealing with skewed data or outliers, as it is not influenced by extremely high or low values.

While the average provides a measure of central tendency, it sums the values and divides by the count, which can misrepresent the central point if the dataset contains outliers. Similarly, the function that counts the number of values simply determines how many entries are in the dataset without conveying anything about their distribution or central tendency. Deviation, on the other hand, typically refers to how spread out the values in a dataset are rather than identifying a central value. Thus, the median stands out as the optimal choice for identifying the middle value of a dataset.