我发现接受的解决方案在我的MySQL安装上不起作用，返回一个空集，但这个查询在我测试的所有情况下都适用:

SELECT x.val from data x, data y
GROUP BY x.val
HAVING SUM(SIGN(1-SIGN(y.val-x.val)))/COUNT(*) > .5
LIMIT 1

create table med(id integer);
insert into med(id) values(1);
insert into med(id) values(2);
insert into med(id) values(3);
insert into med(id) values(4);
insert into med(id) values(5);
insert into med(id) values(6);

select (MIN(count)+MAX(count))/2 from 
(select case when (select count(*) from 
med A where A.id<B.id)=(select count(*)/2 from med) OR 
(select count(*) from med A where A.id>B.id)=(select count(*)/2 
from med) then cast(B.id as float)end as count from med B) C;

 ?column? 
----------
  3.5
(1 row)

OR

select cast(avg(id) as float) from 
(select t1.id from med t1 JOIN med t2 on t1.id!= t2.id 
group by t1.id having ABS(SUM(SIGN(t1.id-t2.id)))=1) A;

MySQL文档中这一页的注释有以下建议:

-- (mostly) High Performance scaling MEDIAN function per group
-- Median defined in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median
--
-- by Peter Hlavac
-- 06.11.2008
--
-- Example Table:

DROP table if exists table_median;
CREATE TABLE table_median (id INTEGER(11),val INTEGER(11));
COMMIT;


INSERT INTO table_median (id, val) VALUES
(1, 7), (1, 4), (1, 5), (1, 1), (1, 8), (1, 3), (1, 6),
(2, 4),
(3, 5), (3, 2),
(4, 5), (4, 12), (4, 1), (4, 7);



-- Calculating the MEDIAN
SELECT @a := 0;
SELECT
id,
AVG(val) AS MEDIAN
FROM (
SELECT
id,
val
FROM (
SELECT
-- Create an index n for every id
@a := (@a + 1) mod o.c AS shifted_n,
IF(@a mod o.c=0, o.c, @a) AS n,
o.id,
o.val,
-- the number of elements for every id
o.c
FROM (
SELECT
t_o.id,
val,
c
FROM
table_median t_o INNER JOIN
(SELECT
id,
COUNT(1) AS c
FROM
table_median
GROUP BY
id
) t2
ON (t2.id = t_o.id)
ORDER BY
t_o.id,val
) o
) a
WHERE
IF(
-- if there is an even number of elements
-- take the lower and the upper median
-- and use AVG(lower,upper)
c MOD 2 = 0,
n = c DIV 2 OR n = (c DIV 2)+1,

-- if its an odd number of elements
-- take the first if its only one element
-- or take the one in the middle
IF(
c = 1,
n = 1,
n = c DIV 2 + 1
)
)
) a
GROUP BY
id;

-- Explanation:
-- The Statement creates a helper table like
--
-- n id val count
-- ----------------
-- 1, 1, 1, 7
-- 2, 1, 3, 7
-- 3, 1, 4, 7
-- 4, 1, 5, 7
-- 5, 1, 6, 7
-- 6, 1, 7, 7
-- 7, 1, 8, 7
--
-- 1, 2, 4, 1

-- 1, 3, 2, 2
-- 2, 3, 5, 2
--
-- 1, 4, 1, 4
-- 2, 4, 5, 4
-- 3, 4, 7, 4
-- 4, 4, 12, 4


-- from there we can select the n-th element on the position: count div 2 + 1 

下面的查询对于奇数行和偶数行都非常有效。在子查询中，我们正在寻找前后行数相同的值。对于奇数行的情况，having子句的值将为0(前后相同的行数将抵消符号)。

类似地，对于偶数行，having子句对于两行(中间的两行)的计算结果为1，因为它们(总的来说)前后的行数相同。

在外层查询中，我们将平均出单个值(奇数行)或(偶数行2个值)。

select avg(val) as median
from
(
    select d1.val
    from data d1 cross join data d2
    group by d1.val
    having abs(sum(sign(d1.val-d2.val))) in (0,1)
) sub

注意:如果你的表有重复的值，上面的having子句应该更改为下面的条件。在这种情况下，可能有一些值超出了原来的可能性(0,1)下面的条件将使这个条件动态，并在重复的情况下工作。

having sum(case when d1.val=d2.val then 1 else 0 end)>=
abs(sum(sign(d1.val-d2.val)))

我有下面的代码，我在HackerRank上找到的，它很简单，适用于每一种情况。

SELECT M.MEDIAN_COL FROM MEDIAN_TABLE M WHERE  
  (SELECT COUNT(MEDIAN_COL) FROM MEDIAN_TABLE WHERE MEDIAN_COL < M.MEDIAN_COL ) = 
  (SELECT COUNT(MEDIAN_COL) FROM MEDIAN_TABLE WHERE MEDIAN_COL > M.MEDIAN_COL );

这是我的办法。当然，你可以把它放到一个过程中:-)

SET @median_counter = (SELECT FLOOR(COUNT(*)/2) - 1 AS `median_counter` FROM `data`);

SET @median = CONCAT('SELECT `val` FROM `data` ORDER BY `val` LIMIT ', @median_counter, ', 1');

PREPARE median FROM @median;

EXECUTE median;

你可以避免变量@median_counter，如果你替换它:

SET @median = CONCAT( 'SELECT `val` FROM `data` ORDER BY `val` LIMIT ',
                      (SELECT FLOOR(COUNT(*)/2) - 1 AS `median_counter` FROM `data`),
                      ', 1'
                    );

PREPARE median FROM @median;

EXECUTE median;