Measures of

Position
Learning Objectives
a. Illustrate the following measures of position: percentiles, deciles, and quartiles.
b. Calculate a specified measure of position (e.g., 90th percentile) of a set of data.
c. Solve problems involving measures of position.
d. Interpret measures of position.
e. Manifest optimism in learning statistics.
Joshua 1: 9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and
do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go
01 Explore
The table shows Gino’s score in the National Career Assessment Examination.
Areas Standard Score Percentile Rank
General Scholastic Aptitude
Scientific Ability 460.50 48
Reading Comprehension 670.68 94
Verbal Ability 726.57 99
Mathematical Ability 591.72 56
Overall GSA 612.37 84

Questions
a. What does a percentile rank mean?
b. If the percentile rank of Gino’s score in scientific ability is 48, does this mean that he
answered 48% of the total items in the test correctly?
Let’s Recall!
What is the median of this set of scores: 8, 2, 6, 9, 12, 15, 1, 5, and 8?

SOLUTION
Arrange the scores in ascending order, we have

1 2 5 6 8 8 9 12 15

50% of the remaining 50% of the remaining

middle or median because it
divides the set of scores into
two equal parts
The median and percentiles are measures of position or location.
02 Measures of
Position
Measures of Position
❖ Or relative standing indicate how an item compares with the other
items in each collection or data set. They measure the data value’s
relative position within the data set. These measures include the
different fractiles.

Fractiles
❖ are numbers that partition or divide an ordered
data set into equal parts.
 COMMON TYPES OF FRACTILES

Type of This fractile divides the set of data into ___

Fractile equal parts.

Median 2

Percentile 100

Decile 10

Quartile 4
Percentiles
Percentiles

❖ are values that divide a set of ranked data into 100 equal parts with
approximately 1% of the scores in each group. These values are denoted
by 𝑃1 , 𝑃2, 𝑃3 , … , 𝑃99 . A percentile rank is the proportion of scores in a
distribution that is below a specific score.

❖ To illustrate, if Gino obtained a percentile rank of 48 in scientific ability,

this means that his score of 460.50 is greater than the scores of 48% of
the students who took the National Career Assessment Examination
(NCAE).
Percentiles

❖ Another example of the use of percentile is in your National

Achievement Test (NAT) score. Suppose your NAT score is in the 93rd
percentile or 𝑃93 . This means that your score is better than 93% of all
people who took the same test and lower than 7% of the same group of
people.

❖ Note that percentiles are different from percentages. If the raw score is
93 out of 100, then the percentage score is 93%. On the other hand, if
the raw score corresponds to the 93rd percentile, then it indicates that
score is better than 93% of all other scores.
Percentiles

❖ Percentiles are used in converting raw scores to more comparative

scores; thus, they are extensively used in educational and health –
related fields to determine the relative standing of an individual in a
group.

❖ The percentile rank of a data value of X is calculated as follows:

𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝒙 + 0.5

𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 = × 100
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑠
Example 1
The number of previous job positions held by 8 applicants for a vacant
position of a marketing company is given: 2, 3, 1, 4, 8, 9, 5, 6. Find the
percentile rank for data values 4 and 8.

Solution
First, arrange the data from lowest to highest. That is, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9
Use the formula for percentile rank.
 Solution
For data value 4: There are 3 data values below 4. Applying the formula.

× 100 = 43.75 or 44th percentile rank

3 + 0.5 3.5
𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 = × 100 =
8 8

For data value 8: There are 6 data values below 8. Applying the formula.

× 100 = 81.25 or 81st percentile rank

6 + 0.5 6.5
𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒌 = 8
× 100 = 8

Therefore, the data values 4 and 8 are the 44th and 81st percentile, respectively.
Percentiles

❖ You can find the data value that corresponds to a given percentile
using the formula for the kth percentile 𝑷𝒌 .

𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎, where n is the total number of data values

𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝑷𝒌 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎

Example 2
Using the following scores, find the data values corresponding to the 35th
and 50th percentiles: 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20
Solution
The data is arranged from lowest to highest score.
To find the 35th percentile, use the formula for the kth percentile.

𝒌 = 𝟑𝟓 (the given percentile value) and

𝒏 = 𝟏2 (since there are 12 scores given in the data)

𝑘 𝑛+1 35 12 + 1 35 13
𝑷𝒌 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑃35 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝟒. 𝟓𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
100 100 100
Solution
If 𝑷𝒌 is not a whole number, compute the kth percentile by linear interpolation as follows;

In this case, 𝑷𝟑𝟓 = 𝟒. 𝟓𝟓th term

.55 is the decimal number
term (Dth term)

4 is the whole number

term (Wth term)

4.55𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 4𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 + 0.55 4 + 1 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 − 4𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚

Based on the given data 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. The 4th term is 6 and the 5th term
is 8. Substitute to the given formula and solve.
Solution
Based on the given data 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. The 4th term is 6 and the 5th
term is 8. Substitute to the given formula and solve.

4.55𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 6 + 0.55 8 − 6 = 6 + 0.55 2 = 6 + 1.1

𝟒. 𝟓𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 = 𝟕. 𝟏

The 35th percentile is 7.1

Solution
To find the 50th percentile, use the formula for the kth percentile.

𝒌 = 𝟓𝟎 (the given percentile value) and

𝒏 = 𝟏𝟐 (since there are 12 scores given in the data)

𝑘 𝑛+1 50 12 + 1 50 13
𝑷𝒌 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑃50 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝟔. 𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
100 100 100
Solution
Since 𝑷𝒌 is not a whole number, we compute the kth percentile by linear interpolation.
In this case, 𝑷𝟓𝟎 = 𝟔. 𝟓th term

6.5𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 + 0.5 6 + 1 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 − 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚

Based on the given data 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. The 6th term is 10 and the 7th
term is 11. Substitute to the given formula and solve.

6.5𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 10 + 0.5 11 − 10 = 10 + 0.5 1 = 10 + 0.5

𝟔. 𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟓

The score that corresponds to the 50th percentile is 10.5

Deciles
Deciles
❖ divide a data set into approximately 10 equal parts or portions. They
are denoted as 𝐷1 , 𝐷2 , … , 𝐷9 .

❖ Suppose your math score is 7th decile or 𝐷7 . This means that you
scored better than 7 out of every 10 students in your class or 70% of
them.

❖ Each decile corresponds to a particular percentile.

𝑫𝟏 = 𝑷𝟏𝟎 , 𝑫𝟐 = 𝑷𝟐𝟎 , … , 𝑫𝟗 = 𝑷𝟗𝟎
Quartiles
Quartiles
❖ It divides a data set into approximately 4 equal parts or portions. They
are denoted as 𝑄1 , 𝑄2 , 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑄3 .

❖ Suppose your score in math test is at the 3rd quartile or 𝑄3 . This implies
that you scored better than 3 out of every 4 of his classmates or 75% of
them.

❖ Each quartile also corresponds to some percentile.

Quartiles

❖ The 2nd quartile or middle quartile, denoted as 𝑸𝟐 , is the same as the

median of the data set. The 1st quartile or the lower quartile is also the
median of all data values below 𝑸𝟐 , whereas the 3rd quartile of the
upper quartile is the median of all data values above 𝑸𝟐 .
Deciles and Quartiles

❖ Finding the kth decile and kth quartile is similar to finding the kth percentile.

kth decile, 𝑫𝒌 =
𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
𝟏𝟎

kth quartile, 𝑸𝒌 =
𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝟒
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
 Deciles and Quartiles

❖ Finding the kth decile and kth quartile is similar to finding the kth percentile.

kth decile, 𝑫𝒌 =
𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
𝟏𝟎

kth quartile, 𝑸𝒌 =
𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝟒
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎

Example 3
The values below are the number of customers who bought items in a particular boutique for 20
consecutive days: 45, 52, 52, 56, 57, 57, 58, 59, 60, 60, 61, 61, 62, 63, 63, 64, 64, 65, 65, 66.
Find the 3rd decile and 3rd quartile of the given data.
Solutions

To find the 3rd decile 𝐷3 , use the formula, 𝑫𝒌 =

𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎.
𝟏𝟎

𝒌 = 𝟑 (the given decile value)

𝒏 = 𝟐𝟎 (since there are 20 consecutive days given)

𝑘 𝑛+1 3 20 + 1 3 21
𝑫𝒌 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝐷3 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝟔. 𝟑𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
10 10 10
Solutions
By interpolation,

𝑾. 𝑫th term = 𝑾𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 + . 𝑫 𝑾 + 𝟏 𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 − 𝑾𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒎

6.3𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 + 0.3 6 + 1 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 − 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚
6.3𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 + 0.3 7𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 − 6𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚
6.3𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 57 + 0.3 58 − 57 = 57 + 0.3 1 = 57 + 0.3
𝟔. 𝟑𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 = 𝟓𝟕. 𝟑

Hence, the 3rd decile of the given set of data is 57.3.

Solutions
To find the 3rd quartile 𝑄3 , use the formula , 𝑸𝒌 =
𝒌(𝒏+𝟏)
𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎.
𝟒

𝒌 = 𝟑 (the given quartile value)

𝒏 = 𝟐𝟎 (since there are 20 consecutive days given)

𝑘 𝑛+1 3 20 + 1 3 21
𝑸𝒌 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑄3 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 𝟏𝟓. 𝟕𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎
4 4 4
Solutions
By interpolation,

𝑾. 𝑫th term = 𝑾𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 + . 𝑫 𝑾 + 𝟏 𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 − 𝑾𝒕𝒉 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒎

15.75𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 15𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 + 0.75 15 + 1 𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 − 15𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚
15.75𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚 = 63 + 0.75 64 − 63 = 63 + 0.75 1 = 63 + 0.75
𝟏𝟓. 𝟕𝟓𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 = 𝟔𝟑. 𝟕𝟓

Hence, the 3rd quartile of the given set of data is 63.75..

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