The given set {14, 28, 33, 97, 53, 81, 42} must be rearranged in ascending order: {14, 28, 33, 42, 53, 81, 97}. Count the numerals: there are 7. Thus, the median of this whole set is the middle numeral, 42.
The first quartile is the median of the subset {14, 28, 33) and is 28.