SQL & PL/SQL

I am seeing some unexpected behavior using the median function applied to a set of distinct values returned by a subquery. I didnt find an explanation by searching the web; hence the question here. These queries are on a 10gR2 database.

In both cases below, the select distinct should return 1,2,3,4,5; for a median of 3.

However the median is different when the 1,2 are repeated

This query returns 2 as median -

SELECT median(prob)
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT (prob) AS prob
FROM (SELECT 1 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 2 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 3 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 4 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 5 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 1 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 2 AS prob FROM dual) sub);

This query returns 3 as the median.

SELECT median(prob)
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT (prob) AS prob
FROM (SELECT 1 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 2 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 3 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 4 AS prob
FROM dual
UNION ALL
SELECT 5 AS prob FROM dual) sub);

What am I missing about the median or the distinct function to cause this different behavior? My expectation was to get the same median - 3 - in both cases since the subquery that the median uses returns the same values in both.

Thanks in advance for any insight on this.