Percentile

In statistics, a k-th percentile, also known as 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). Percentiles are expressed in the same unit of measurement as the input scores, not in percent; for example, if the scores refer to human weight, the corresponding percentiles will be expressed in kilograms or pounds. In the limit of an infinite sample size, the percentile approximates the percentile function, the inverse of the cumulative distribution function.

Percentiles are a type of quantiles, obtained adopting a subdivision into 100 groups. 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). For example, the 50th percentile (median) is the score below (or at or below, depending on the definition) which 50% of the scores in the distribution are found.

A related quantity is the percentile rank of a score, expressed in percent, which represents the fraction of scores in its distribution that are less than it, an exclusive definition. 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 ranks, 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.