Quartile

By 
DANIEL LIBERTO

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Reviewed by 
MARGARET JAMES
Fact checked by 
TIMOTHY LI
 

on August 23, 2021

What Is a Quartile?
A quartile is a statistical term that describes a division of observations into four
defined intervals based on the values of the data and how they compare to the
entire set of observations.

Understanding Quartiles
To understand the quartile, it is important to understand the median as
a measure of central tendency. The median in statistics is the middle value of a
set of numbers. It is the point at which exactly half of the data lies below and
above the central value.

So, given a set of 13 numbers that is sorted (ascending or descending), the

median would be the seventh number. The six numbers preceding this value are
the lowest numbers in the data, and the six numbers after the median are the
highest numbers in the dataset given. Because the median is not affected by
extreme values or outliers in the distribution, it is sometimes preferred to
the mean.

The median is a robust estimator of location but says nothing about how the data
on either side of its value is spread or dispersed. That's where the quartile steps
in. The quartile measures the spread of values above and below the mean by
dividing the distribution into four groups.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 The quartile measures the spread of values above and below the mean by
dividing the distribution into four groups.
 A quartile divides data into three points—a lower quartile, median, and
upper quartile—to form four groups of the dataset.
 Quartiles are used to calculate the interquartile range, which is a measure
of variability around the median.
How Quartiles Work
Just like the median divides the data into half so that 50% of the measurement
lies below the median and 50% lies above it, the quartile breaks down the data
into quarters so that 25% of the measurements are less than the lower quartile,
50% are less than the median, and 75% are less than the upper quartile.

A quartile divides data into three points—a lower quartile, median, and upper
quartile—to form four groups of the dataset. The lower quartile, or first quartile, is
denoted as Q1 and is the middle number that falls between the smallest value of
the dataset and the median. The second quartile, Q2, is also the median. The
upper or third quartile, denoted as Q3, is the central point that lies between the
median and the highest number of the distribution.

Now, we can map out the four groups formed from the quartiles. The first group
of values contains the smallest number up to Q1; the second group includes Q1
to the median; the third set is the median to Q3; the fourth category comprises
Q3 to the highest data point of the entire set.

Each quartile contains 25% of the total observations. Generally, the data is
arranged from smallest to largest:

1. First quartile: the lowest 25% of numbers

2. Second quartile: between 25.1% and 50% (up to the median)
3. Third quartile: 50.1% to 75% (above the median)
4. Fourth quartile: the highest 25% of numbers
Example of Quartile
Suppose the distribution of math scores in a class of 19 students in ascending
order is:

 59, 60, 65, 65, 68, 69, 70, 72, 75, 75, 76, 77, 81, 82, 84, 87, 90, 95, 98

First, mark down the median, Q2, which in this case is the 10th value: 75.

Q1 is the central point between the smallest score and the median. In this case,
Q1 falls between the first and fifth score: 68. (Note that the median can also be
included when calculating Q1 or Q3 for an odd set of values. If we were to
include the median on either side of the middle point, then Q1 will be the middle
value between the first and 10th score, which is the average of the fifth and sixth
score—(fifth + sixth)/2 = (68 + 69)/2 = 68.5).

Q3 is the middle value between Q2 and the highest score: 84. (Or if you include
the median, Q3 = (82 + 84)/2 = 83).

Now that we have our quartiles, let’s interpret their numbers. A score of 68 (Q1)
represents the first quartile and is the 25th percentile. 68 is the median of the
lower half of the score set in the available data—that is, the median of the scores
from 59 to 75.

Q1 tells us that 25% of the scores are less than 68 and 75% of the class scores
are greater. Q2 (the median) is the 50th percentile and shows that 50% of the
scores are less than 75, and 50% of the scores are above 75. Finally, Q3, the
75th percentile, reveals that 25% of the scores are greater and 75% are less than
84.

Special Considerations
If the datapoint for Q1 is farther away from the median than Q3 is from the
median, then we can say that there is a greater dispersion among the smaller
values of the dataset than among the larger values. The same logic applies if Q3
is farther away from Q2 than Q1 is from the median.

Alternatively, if there is an even number of data points, the median will be the
average of the middle two numbers. In our example above, if we had 20 students
instead of 19, the median of their scores will be the arithmetic average of the
10th and 11th numbers.