Percentile
A percentile is a value on a scale of 100 that indicates the percentage of the data set values that is equal to or below it. The percentile is often used to estimate the extremes of a distribution.[1] For example, if Jill is the 4th tallest in a group of 20 people, then 80% of the group is shorter than Jill. Thus Jill is said to be in the 80th percentile.[2]
Percentiles are often used in classifying extremes of statistics in various climate situations. For example, a daily temperature is classified as extreme when that day's high (or low) is in the 90th percentile of the same day in previous years.[1]
Values can also be separated into groups known as deciles and quartiles - deciles split the data into tens while quartiles split it into quarters. From the earlier example, Jill would be in the upper quartile as she is taller than over 75% of the other people, and would be in the 8th decile.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 IPCC, 2012: Glossary of terms. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY, USA, pp. 555-564.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Math is Fun. (Accessed May 31, 2016). Percentiles [Online], Available: https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/percentiles.html