STATISTICS & PROBABILITY

Locating Percentiles Under the

Normal Curve
At the end of the session, the students are able to;

1. Recall the concept of percentile.

2. Read the following notes and steps

carefully.

3. Read the problems and the illustrative

solution.
Review
Sketch the graph of each of the following and
compute the probability.
1. Below z = -1.5
2. To the left of z = 1.5
3. Write the formula for sample z-score.
4. Write the formula for population z-score.
5. What do you understand by the word
percentile?
 PERCENTILE
➢ A PERCENTILE IS A MEASURE OF RELATIVE STANDING. IT IS A
DESCRIPTIVE MEASURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF
MEASUREMENT TO THE REST OF THE DATA.

EX: IN A TEST IN STATISTICS IT MEANS THAT’S 90% OF

AND PROBABILITY, YOU GOT THE GRADES WERE LOWER
A SCORE OF 85 AND YOU THAN YOURS AND 10%
90 % 10 %
WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU WERE HIGHER THAN YOU
FARED IN COMPARISON
WITH YOUR CLASSMATES. IF
YOUR TEACHERS TELLS YOU
THAT YOU SCORED 90TH
PERCENTILE,
PROBLEM NO. 1
FIND THE 95 PERCENTILE OF 𝑷𝟗𝟓 IN THE NORMAL CURVE
95%
THEREFORE, THE 95TH
PERCENTILE IS Z = 1.645
STEP 1: SPLIT 0.9500
0.5000 + 𝟎. 𝟒𝟓𝟎𝟎
5% STEP 2: FIND THE AREA OF 0.5000 & .4500 IN
THE Z TABLE, IF CAN NOT BE FOUND IN THE
TABLE GET THE NEAREST AREA VALUE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495
0.4500 = 0. 4505
STEP 3:FIND THE CORRESPONDING Z SCORE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495 → 1.64
0.4500 = 0. 4505 → 1.65
STEP 4 : DETERMINE THE AVERAGE OF 2 Z -SCORE
1.64+1.65
= 1.645
2
1.64 1.65
 Follow-up question:
If you belong to the 95th percentile of your batch for your
moving-up, what can you conclude?

You received an average of 95%.

Among the graduates, you rank 95th

Your rank is lower than or equal to 95% of your batch.

PROBLEM NO. 2
FIND THE 72 PERCENTILE OF 𝑷𝟕𝟐 IN THE NORMAL CURVE
72%
THEREFORE, THE 72TH
PERCENTILE IS Z = 1.105
STEP 1: SPLIT 0.7200
0.5000 + 𝟎. 𝟐𝟐𝟎𝟎
28% STEP 2: FIND THE AREA OF 0.5000 & .2200 IN
THE Z TABLE, IF CAN NOT BE FOUND IN THE
TABLE GET THE NEAREST AREA VALUE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495
0.2200 = 0. 2157
STEP 3:FIND THE CORRESPONDING Z SCORE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495 → 1.64
0.4500 = 0. 4505 → 0.57
STEP 4 : DETERMINE THE AVERAGE OF 2 Z -SCORE
1.64+0.57
= 1.105
2
 0.57
NEAREST VALUE

1.64
 Follow-up question:
Ben learned that his score on a recent exam was in the 72nd
percentile. If 90 students took the test, approximately how
many students received a higher score than Ben?

𝒏
N = Total number of 𝑷𝒏 = 𝑵
𝟏𝟎𝟎
observation/frequency 25
𝟕𝟐
𝑷𝟕𝟐 = 𝟗𝟎
n = The given value of 𝟏𝟎𝟎
percentile
36
𝑷𝟕𝟐 = 𝟔𝟒. 𝟖 → 𝟔𝟓
72
𝟗𝟎 − 𝟔𝟓 = 𝟐𝟓
PROBLEM NO. 3
FIND THE 76 PERCENTILE OF 𝑷𝟕𝟔 IN THE NORMAL CURVE
76%
THEREFORE, THE 76TH
PERCENTILE IS Z = 1.175
STEP 1: SPLIT 0.7600
0.5000 + 𝟎. 𝟐𝟔𝟎𝟎
24% STEP 2: FIND THE AREA OF 0.5000 & .2600 IN
THE Z TABLE, IF CAN NOT BE FOUND IN THE
TABLE GET THE NEAREST AREA VALUE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495
0.2200 = 0. 2611
STEP 3:FIND THE CORRESPONDING Z SCORE.
0.5000 = 0. 4495 → 1.64
0.4500 = 0. 4505 → 0.71
STEP 4 : DETERMINE THE AVERAGE OF 2 Z -SCORE
1.64+0.71
= 1.175
2
0.71
NEAREST VALUE

1.64
 Follow-up question:
If Kaira scored at the 76th percentile on a chemical
engineering exam. How does her score stand in
relation to the others?

It means that 24% scored the same or lower than her

She surpassed 24% of all the test takers.

It means that she scored better than 76% of all the test takers