During her shift, Lily sorted packages with the following counts: 42, 48, 45, 43, 57, 51, 61, 48. What is the median?

To find the median of a set of numbers, it’s important to first arrange the numbers in ascending order. The counts provided are: 42, 48, 45, 43, 57, 51, 61, 48. When we arrange these numbers, we get:

42, 43, 45, 48, 48, 51, 57, 61.

Since there are eight numbers in this dataset (an even count), the median will be the average of the two middle numbers. In the sorted list, the two middle numbers are the fourth and fifth values, which are 48 and 48.

To find the median, you add these two middle values together and then divide by 2:

(48 + 48) / 2 = 48.

This resulting value of 48 is indeed the median of the data set. Therefore, the answer is accurately identified as 48.