MEDIAN,

QUARTILES,
PERCENTILES,
DECILES,
RANGE, AND
INTERQUARTILE
RANGE
MATH 10
Do you remember how to find the median of a set of data?

The median is a measure of the center of a distribution set

and is the ‘middle value’ when the data are arranged in an
ascending order.
Consider the set of scores below:
7, 21, 14, 30, 6, 5, 2, 8, 20, 12, 16
What is the median of the set of scores?
Solution:
Arranging the scores in ascending order, we have
2 5 6 7 8 12 14 16 20 21 30

median
 lower half

2 5 6 7 8 12 14 16 20 21 30

lower quartile median

Q1 Q2
 lower half upper half

2 5 6 7 8 12 14 16 20 21 30

lower quartile median upper quartile

Q1 Q2 Q3
 QUARTILES

Quartiles are measures that divide an arranged data

set (from smallest to largest) into four equal parts. There
are three quartiles, namely, first quartile, second quartile,
and third quartile, denoted by Q 1, Q2, and Q3, respectively.
RANGE AND INTERQUARTILE
RANGE

range

0 2 6 12 20 30

Q1 median Q3
interquartile
range
 RANGE AND INTERQUARTILE
RANGE

Range = Largest Value – Smallest Value

= 30 – 2
= 28

Interquartile range = Q 3 – Q1
= 20 – 6
= 14
Example 1
The data below shows the marks for a multiple-choice
quiz with 20 questions, taken by 8 students.

10 12 12 13 9 17 11 14

a. For the given set of data, find Q1, Q2, and Q3.
b. Find the range.
c. Find the interquartile range.
Solution:
lower half upper half

9 10 11 12 12 13 14 17

Q1 Q2 Q3
median
Solution:

9 10 11 12 12 13 14 17

Q1 Q2 Q3

𝟏𝟐+𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟎+𝟏𝟏
a. 𝑸𝟐 = = 𝟏𝟐 𝑸𝟏 = = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟓
𝟐 𝟐

𝟏𝟑+𝟏𝟒
𝑸𝟑 = = 𝟏𝟑. 𝟓
𝟐

b. Range = 17 – 9 = 8

c. IQR = Q3 – Q1 = 13.5 – 10.5 = 3

Practice Now 1
The following set of data
shows the number of sit-ups done
in 1 minute by 9 students during a
physical fitness test.

25 54 15 32 16
26 47 9 35

a. For the given set of data,

find Q1, Q2, and Q3.
b. Find the range.
c. Find the interquartile range.
PERCENTILES

Percentiles are measures that divide an arranged

data set (from smallest to largest) into 100 equal parts. It
is denoted by P k, where k = 1, 2, …, 99.

Consider the 85 th percentile or P 85. Suppose your

score in an examination happens to be at P 85 of the data
set. This means that your score is in the upper 15%. Also,
you may say that 85% of the other scores in the data set
are equal to or less than your score.
PERCENTILES

The following are steps in finding the kth percentile:

1. Arrange the data set from smallest to largest.
2. Compute the position of the percentile, denoted by c,
using the formula
𝒌𝒏
𝒄= ,
𝟏𝟎𝟎

where k is the percentile and n is the total number of values.

PERCENTILES

The following are steps in finding the kth percentile:

3. (a) If c is not a whole number, round up to the next
whole number. This number corresponds to the
position of the required percentile. Locate the value
in the arranged set of data.
(b) If c is a whole number, locate the values in the cth
and (c + 1)th positions in the arranged set of data
and find their average.
Example 3
The following table shows the medal tally of the grade 10
sections in a sports festival.

Section A B C D E F G H
Number 12 10 6 7 9 5 8 8
of Medals

Find the value corresponding to the 75 th percentile in the

medal tally.
Solution
To find the 75 th percentile or P 75, first arrange the data
set from largest to smallest.
5 6 7 8 8 9 10 12
Compute the position of the percentile.
𝒌𝒏 𝟕𝟓 𝟖 𝟑 𝟖
𝒄= = = =𝟔
𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟒
Get the average of the 6 th and 7th values.
𝟗+𝟏𝟎
Their average is = 𝟗. 𝟓
𝟐
P75 = 9.5
Example 4
The scores in a special examination administered for
twelve grade 10 students are given below.

76 78 80 83 85 86 88 88 89 93 96 98

Determine the 90th percentile or P90 of the scores.

Solution
To find P90, check if the data set is arranged from smallest to
largest value.

76 78 80 83 85 86 88 88 89 93 96 98

Compute for the position of the given percentile.

𝒌𝒏 𝟗𝟎 𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟎𝟖𝟎
𝒄= = = = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟖
𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝟏𝟎𝟎

Since 10.8 is not a whole number, round up to the next whole

number, which is 11. The eleventh value in the arranged data
set is 96.
Practice Now 2
The following are the
weights (in kg) of 15 students:

50 48 39 40 50.5
43 45 47 48 38.4
38 48 49 52 51.8

a. Find the median.

b. Find the 85th percentile.
 PERCENTILE RANK

The percentile rank of an observation x in a data set refers

to the percentage of observations that fall at or below x. It
is given by

𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔

+ 𝟎. 𝟓
𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒙 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒙
𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒕
Example 5
The time (in minutes) spent in the library by a random example of 12
students are as follows.
10 12 15 18 22 25 28 30 30 30 35 45
What is the percentile rank of 25?
Solution
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔
+ 𝟎. 𝟓
𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒙 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒙
𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎%
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒕

𝟓+𝟎.𝟓(𝟏) 𝟓.𝟓
= 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎% = 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎% = 𝟒𝟓. 𝟖𝟑%
𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟐

The percentile rank of 25 is approximately 46%.

This means that 25 corresponds to the 46 th percentile.
Practice Now 3
The following are the
weights (in kg) of 15 students:

50 48 39 40 50.5
43 45 47 48 38.4
38 48 49 52 51.8

Find the percentile rank of 50 kg.

DECILES

Deciles are values that divide an arranged data set

into 10 equal parts.
They are denoted by D k, where k = 1, 2, …, 9.

The first decile D 1 divides the data set such that 10%
of the values in the data set are smaller than D 1 and 90%
of the values are larger than D 1.
Example 6
Given below are the data on the number of books donated by the
16 sections in high school for a book donation project.

35 41 43 43 44 45 47 48
48 49 50 51 52 54 56 60

Determine the 8 th decile.

Solution
𝒌𝒏 𝟖 𝟏𝟔 𝟏𝟐𝟖
To compute for D 8: 𝒄= = = = 𝟏𝟐. 𝟖
𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟎

Round off 12.8 to 13. The 13 th observation is 52. Thus, 52 is the 8 th decile.
Practice Now 4
The following are the
weights (in kg) of 15 students:

50 48 39 40 50.5
43 45 47 48 38.4
38 48 49 52 51.8

a. Find the fourth decile.

b. Find the 7th decile.