Summary statistics | Percentages
Percentile
In statistics, a k-th percentile (percentile score or centile) is a score below which a given percentage k of scores in its frequency distribution falls (exclusive definition) or a score at or below which a given percentage falls (inclusive definition). For example, the 50th percentile (the median) is the score below which 50% of the scores in the distribution are found (by the "exclusive" definition), or at or below which 50% of the scores are found (by the "inclusive" definition). Percentiles are expressed in the same unit of measurement as the input scores; for example, if the scores refer to human weight, the corresponding percentiles will be expressed in kilograms or pounds. The percentile score and the percentile rank are related terms. The percentile rank of a score is the percentage of scores in its distribution that are less than it, an exclusive definition, and one that can be expressed with a single, simple formula.Percentile scores and percentile ranks are often used in the reporting of test scores from norm-referenced tests, but, as just noted, they are not the same. For percentile rank, a score is given and a percentage is computed. Percentile ranks are exclusive. If the percentile rank for a specified score is 90%, then 90% of the scores were lower. In contrast, for percentiles a percentage is given and a corresponding score is determined, which can be either exclusive or inclusive. The score for a specified percentage (e.g., 90th) indicates a score below which (exclusive definition) or at or below which (inclusive definition) other scores in the distribution fall. The 25th percentile is also known as the first quartile (Q1), the 50th percentile as the median or second quartile (Q2), and the 75th percentile as the third quartile (Q3). (Wikipedia).
