The value of a median or other rank of interest in a dataset is efficiently determined. Each active bit of the dataset is serially processed to compute one bit of the output value from each bit of the input dataset. If any sample in the dataset has an active bit that differs from the determined output value for that bit, then that sample can be marked as no longer in consideration. After an active bit has been processed, the data for that bit may be discarded or subsequently ignored. These techniques allow the rank value to be efficiently determined using pipelined logic in a configurable gate array (CGA) or the like. Further implementations may be enhanced to compute clipped means, to identify “next highest” or “next lowest” values, to reduce quantization errors through less-significant bit interpolation, to simultaneously process multiple values in a common pipeline, or for any other purpose.