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.
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.

Formula:
When the set of observations are arranged in ascending order the quartiles are represented as,
First Quartile(Q1) = ((n + 1)/4)th Term. Second Quartile(Q2) = ((n + 1)/2)th Term. Third
Quartile(Q3) = (3(n + 1)/4)th Term.
Example 1: Calculate the median, lower quartile, upper quartile, and interquartile range of the
following data set of values: 20, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 26

Solution:

Arranging the values in ascending order: 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

Putting the values in the formulas above we get,

Median(Q2) = 5th Term = 23
Lower Quartile (Q1) = Mean of 2nd and 3rd term = (20 + 21)/2 = 20.5
Upper Quartile(Q3) = Mean of 7th and 8th term = (25 + 26)/2 = 25.5
IQR = Upper Quartile−Lower Quartile

IQR = 25.5 – 20.5

IQR = 5

Answer: IQR = 5

Percentile
A percentile (or a centile) is a measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a
given percentage of observations in a group of observations fall. For example, the 20th
percentile is the value (or score) below which 20% of the observations may be found.

Formula:

n = (P/100) x N

where N = number of values in the data set, P = percentile, and n = ordinal rank of a given value
(with the values in the data set sorted from smallest to largest).

Example:

For example, take a class of 20 students that earned the following scores on their most recent
test: 75, 77, 78, 78, 80, 81, 81, 82, 83, 84, 84, 84, 85, 87, 87, 88, 88, 88, 89, 90. These scores
can be represented as a data set with 20 values: {75, 77, 78, 78, 80, 81, 81, 82, 83, 84, 84, 84,
85, 87, 87, 88, 88, 88, 89, 90}.

We can find the score that marks the 20th percentile by plugging in known values into the
formula and solving for n:

n = (20/100) x 20 n

=4

The fourth value in the data set is the score 78. This means that 78 marks the 20th percentile; of
the students in the class, 20 percent earned a score of 78 or lower.
Decile
Decile is a type of quantile that divides the dataset into 10 equal subsections with the help of 9
data points. Each section of the sorted data represents 1/10 of the original sample or population.
Decile helps to order large amounts of data in the increasing or decreasing order. This ordering
is done by using a scale from 1 to 10 where each successive value represents an increase by
10 percentage points.
Decile Formula for ungrouped data: D(x) = Value of the x(n+1)10x(n+1)10th term in the data
set.

x is the value of the decile that needs to be calculated and ranges from 1 to 9. n is the total
number of observations in that data set.

Decile Formula for grouped data: D(x) = l+wf(Nx10−C)l+wf(Nx10−C).

l is the lower boundary of the class containing the decile given by (x × cf) / 10, cf is the
cumulative frequency of the entire data set, w is the size of the class, N is the total
frequency, C is the cumulative frequency of the preceding class.

Example:

Suppose a data set consists of the following numbers: 24, 32, 27, 32, 23, 62, 45, 80, 59, 63, 36,
54, 57, 36, 72, 55, 51, 32, 56, 33, 42, 55, 30. The value of the first two deciles has to be
calculated. The steps required are as follows:

 Step 1: Arrange the data in increasing order. This gives 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 32, 32, 33, 36,
36, 42, 45, 51, 54, 55, 55, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 72, 80.
 Step 2: Identify the total number of points. Here, n = 23
 Step 3: Apply the decile formula to calculate the position of the required data point. D(1)
= (n+1)10(n+1)10 = 2.4. This implies the value of the 2.4th data point has to be determined.
This will lie between the scores in the 2nd and 3rd positions. In other words, the 2.4th data is
0.4 of the way between the scores 24 and 27
 Step 4: The value of the decile can be determined as [lower score + (distance)(higher score
- lower score)]. This is given as 24 + 0.4 * (27 – 24) = 25.2
 Step 5: Apply steps 3 and 4 to determine the rest of the deciles. D(2) = 2(n+1)102(n+1)10 =
4.8th data between digit number 4 and 5. Thus, 30 + 0.8 * (32 – 30) = 31.6

References: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-percentile-3126238
https://pallipedia.org/percentile/ https://www.cuemath.com/quartile-
formula/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/quartile.asp
https://www.cuemath.com/data/decile/