4 | Mathematics in the Modern World 1

Unit 4: DATA MANAGEMENT

4.3 Measures of Relative Position
4.3.1 Z-Scores

Consider an Internet site that offers movie downloads. Based on data kept by
the site, an estimate of the mean time to download a certain movie is 12 min, with a standard
deviation of 4 min. When you download this movie, the download takes 20 min, which you
think is an unusually long time for the download. On the other hand, when your friend
downloads the movie, the download takes only 6 min, and your friend is pleasantly
surprised at how quickly she receives the movie. In each case, a data value far from the mean
is unexpected.

The graph below shows the download times for this movie using two different
measures: the number of minutes a download time is from the mean and the number of
standard deviations the download time is from the mean.

The number of standard deviations between a data value and the mean is known as
the data value’s z-score or standard score.

What Is a Z-Score?
A Z-score is a numerical measurement that describes a value's relationship to the
mean of a group of values. Z-score is measured in terms of standard deviations from the
mean. If a Z-score is 0, it indicates that the data point's score is identical to the mean score.

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In the next example, we use a student’s z-scores for two tests to determine how well
the student did on each test in comparison to the other students.

Example 1: Compare z-Scores

Raul has taken two tests in his chemistry class. He scored 72 on the first test, for which
the mean of all scores was 65 and the standard deviation was 8. He received a 60 on a second
test, for which the mean of all scores was 45 and the standard deviation was 12. In
comparison to the other students, did Raul do better on the first test or the second test?

Raul scored 0.875 standard deviation above the mean on the first test and 1.25
standard deviations above the mean on the second test. These z-scores indicate that, in
comparison to his classmates, Raul scored better on the second test than he did on the first
test.

Example 2: Use z-Scores

A consumer group tested a sample of 100 light bulbs. It found the mean life expectancy
of the bulbs was 842 h, with a standard deviation of 90. One particular light bulb from the
Dura-Bright Company had a z-score of 1.2. What was the life span of this light bulb?

The light bulb had a life span of 950 h.

Test yourself!

1. A random sample of 1000 oranges showed that the mean amount of juice per orange
was 7.4 fluid ounces, with a standard deviation of 1.1 fluid ounces.

a. Determine the z-score, to the nearest tenth, of an orange produced 6.6 fluid
ounces of juice.
b. The z-score for one orange was 3.15. How much juice was produced by this
orange? Round to the nearest tenth of a fluid ounce.

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4.3.2 Percentiles

Most standardized examinations provide scores in terms of percentiles, which

are defined as follows:

Percentile is in everyday use, but there is no universal definition for it. The most
common definition of a percentile is a number where a certain percentage of scores fall below
that number. You might know that you scored 67 out of 90 on a test. But that figure has no
real meaning unless you know what percentile you fall into. If you know that your score is
in the 90th percentile, that means you scored better than 90% of people who took the test.

In common use, the percentile usually indicates that a certain percentage falls below
that percentile. For example, if you score in the 25th percentile, then 25% of test takers are
below your score. The “25” is called the percentile rank.

Example 1: Using Percentiles

In a recent year, the median annual salary for a physical therapist was P74,480. If the
90th percentile for the annual salary of a physical therapist was P105,900, find the percent of
physical therapists whose annual salary was
a. more than P74,480.
b. less than P105,900.
c. between P74,480 and P105,900.

Solution:
a. By definition, the median is the 50th percentile. Therefore, 50% of the physical
therapists earned more than P74,480 per year.
b. Because P105,900 is the 90th percentile, 90% of all physical therapists made less
than P105,900.
c. From parts a and b, 90% – 50% = 40% of the physical therapists earned between
P74,480 and P105,900. The following formula can be used to find the percentile
that corresponds to a particular data value in a set of data.

Example 2: Find a Percentile

On a reading examination given to 900 students, Elaine’s score of 602 was higher than
the scores of 576 of the students who took the examination. What is the percentile for Elaine’s
score?

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4.3.3 Quartiles

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Test yourself!

C. M. D. Hamo-ay