Use of a cursor for calculation of the median (financial or statistical ?) ???

CREATE TABLE #dist (c1 int)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (2)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (3)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (1)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (4)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (8)

INSERT INTO #dist VALUES (9)

SELECT Median=CASE COUNT(*)%2

   WHEN 0 THEN

    (d.c1+MIN(CASE WHEN i.c1>d.c1 THEN i.c1 ELSE NULL END))/2.0

   ELSE d.c1 END  -- Odd number

FROM #dist d CROSS JOIN #dist i

GROUP BY d.c1

HAVING COUNT(CASE WHEN i.c1 <= d.c1 THEN 1 ELSE NULL END)=(COUNT(*)+1)/2

DROP TABLE #dist

Median             

-------------------

3.500000

or if there are duplicate values

set nocount on

CREATE TABLE #dist (c1 int)

INSERT #dist VALUES (2)

INSERT #dist VALUES (2)

INSERT #dist VALUES (1)

INSERT #dist VALUES (5)

INSERT #dist VALUES (5)

INSERT #dist VALUES (9)

SELECT Median=ISNULL((CASE WHEN COUNT(CASE WHEN i.c1<=d.c1 THEN 1 ELSE NULL END) > (COUNT(*)+1)/2 THEN 1.0*d.c1 ELSE NULL END)+COUNT(*)%2,

              (d.c1+MIN((CASE WHEN i.c1>d.c1 THEN i.c1 ELSE NULL END)))/2.0)

FROM #dist d CROSS JOIN #dist i

GROUP BY d.c1

HAVING (COUNT(CASE WHEN i.c1 <= d.c1 THEN 1 ELSE NULL END)>=(COUNT(*)+1)/2)

AND (COUNT(CASE WHEN i.c1 >=d.c1 THEN 1 ELSE NULL END) >= COUNT(*)/2+1)

GO

drop table #dist

Median          

----------------

3.5

There are many other ways possible. None of them utillizes a cursor.