What is the median of the first 50 whole numbers?

The first 50 whole numbers are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ...., 49

The number of terms, n = 50 (which is an even number)

Now, we know that for the even value of n, the median is calculated as:

$\frac{\mathbf{\left(}{\displaystyle \frac{n}{2}}\mathbf{\right)}\mathbf{th}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{term}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{+}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{(}{\displaystyle \frac{n}{2}}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{+}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{1}\mathbf{)}\mathbf{th}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{term}}{\mathbf{2}}$

Substituting the values:

 $\Rightarrow \mathrm{Median} = \frac{\left({\displaystyle \frac{50}{2}}\right)\mathrm{th} \mathrm{term} + ({\displaystyle \frac{50}{2}} + 1)\mathrm{th} \mathrm{term}}{2}$

$\Rightarrow \mathrm{Median} = \frac{25\mathrm{th} \mathrm{term} + 26\mathrm{th} \mathrm{term}}{2}$

 $\Rightarrow \mathrm{Median} = \frac{24 + 25}{2}$

$\Rightarrow \mathrm{Median} = \frac{49}{2}$ 

$\Rightarrow \mathbf{Median}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{=}\mathbf{ }\mathbf{24}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{5}$

Thus, the required median is 24.5.