How to Quantify Percentiles

Percentiles are used for classifying data

A percentile is a numerical representation of a value's percentage position in a range of data. The whole data is classified into percentages and the percentages are classified into percentiles. Percentiles are values that range from 0 to 99 and are used in ordered data. For example, a data object could be placed at 51 percentile. That means that is object is placed 51 percent over the entire data range. There are few steps in calculating percentiles.

Instructions

1. Order your variables from the lowest to the highest. For example, if your values could be 2, 12, 23,17,6, 28, 14, 21, 15 and 9, the order would be: 2, 6, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17, 21, 23 and 28.

   Count the values that are lesser than or equal to a value you have. If you are calculating the numbers of values for "20", the number of values would be equal to 7. If you are calculating for values lesser than "10", these would be 3.

2. Divide the outcome by the total numbers of values. In case of 20, you would have to divide 7 by 10. The solution would be 0.7. In case of 10, you have to divide 3 by 10. Here, the solution would be 0.3.

3. Multiply the resultant figures by 100. This way, you would be able to express the solutions in percentages. The figure "20" would lie in the 70 percent range of the data. The figure "10" would lie in the 30 percent range of the data. The ranges are called the percentiles.

References

• Business Dictionary: Percentile
• Connexions; Percentiles; David Lane; Sept. 2010