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Hi Shirley,

If the median is 145, then half of the values would be less than 145 (and half would be more). Since the problem states that half the class will finish before 145 minutes, it implies that the median is 145. If the median was less than 145, then more than half of the class would finish before 145 minutes. For example what if the median was 140? Then half of the values would be less than or equal to 140. This means more than half would be less than or equal to 145. That would not be equivalent to what was stated in the claim in this problem.

Hope that helps,

Professor McGuckian