Learning Outcomes

At the end of this section, the students are

expected to:
1.define and understand the measure of relative
position;
2.calculate the z-score, percentile, and quartile;
and
3.appreciate and apply the concepts of
measures of relative position in real life.
Example 4.3.1 Almira scored 72 in a quiz in Algebra for
which the average score of the class was 65 with
standard deviation of 8. She also took a quiz in
Statistics and scored 60 for which the average score of
the class was 45, and the standard deviation was 12.
Relative to the other students in class, did Almira do
better in Algebra or Statistics?
We compute the z-scores of Almira’s scores for each
quiz.

In algebra, Almira’s score is 0.875 standard deviation

above the mean. In statistics, her score is 1.25 standard
deviations above the mean. This means that relative to
her classmates, Almira scored better in statistics than in
algebra.
 Percentiles
Most standardized examinations provide scores in
terms of percentiles, which are defined as follows.
Example 4.3.2 According to salaryexplorer.com, the
median salary for people working in factories and
manufacturing in the Philippines is 32,900 Php per
month. If the 75th percentile for the salary of people
working in factories and manufacturing is 59,000 Php
per month, find the percent of people working in
factories and manufacturing whose monthly salary is

a. more than 32,900 Php.

b. less than 59,000 Php.
c. between 32,900 Php and 59,000 Php.
a. The median is the 50th percentile. Therefore, 50% of the
people working in factories and manufacturing are
earning more than 32,900 Php per month.

b. Because 59,000 is the 75th percentile, 75% of all the

people working in factories and manufacturing are
earning less than 59,000 Php per month.

c. From parts a and b, 75% – 50% = 25% of the people

working in factories and manufacturing are earning
between 32,900 Php and 59,000 Php per month.
The following formula can be used to find the
percentile that corresponds to a particular data
value in a set of data.
Example 4.3.3 On a diagnostic examination given to 800
students, Gyuri’s score of 315 was higher than the scores
of 576 of the students who took the examination. What is
the percentile for Gyuri’s score?
Example 4.3.3 On a diagnostic examination given to 800
students, Gyuri’s score of 315 was higher than the scores
of 576 of the students who took the examination. What is
the percentile for Gyuri’s score?
 Quartiles

The quartile Q1 is called the first quartile. The quartile Q2

is called the second quartile. It is the median of the data.
The quartile Q3 is called the third quartile.
The following method of finding quartiles makes use
of medians.
Example 4.3.4. The following table lists the calories per
100 milliliters of 25 popular sodas. Find the quartiles for
the data.

43 37 42 40 53 62 36 32 50 49
26 53 73 48 45 39 45 48 40 56
41 36 58 42 39
Step 1: Rank the data as shown in the following table.

26 32 36 36 37 39 39 40 40 41
42 42 43 45 45 48 48 49 50 53
53 56 58 62 73
 Box-and-Whisker Plots
A box-and-whisker plot (sometimes called a box plot) is often used to
provide a visual summary of a set of data.

A box-and-whisker plot shows the median, the first and third

quartiles, and the minimum and maximum values of a data set. See
the figure below.
Example 4.3.5. Construct a box-and-whisker plot for
the data set in Example 4.3.4.
Example 4.3.5. Construct a box-and-whisker plot for
the data set in Example 4.3.4.
For the data set in Example 5, we determined that
Q1 = 39, Q2 = 43, and Q3 = 51.5.

The minimum data value for the data set is 26, and the
maximum data value is 73. Thus, the box-and-whisker
plot is shown below.
Subjects Kyle’s score mean Standard
Deviation

Math 90 85 1.5

English 95 97 2.0

History 94 92 1.75
3. A survey was given to 18 students. One question asked about the
one-way distance the student had to travel to attend college. The
results, in kilometers, are shown in the following table. Use the median
procedure for finding quartiles to find the first, second, and third
quartiles for the data. Then, draw a box and whisker plot for the data.

Kilometers Traveled to Attend College

12 18 4 5 26 41 1 8 10

10 3 28 32 10 85 7 5 15
References:
1. Aufmann, R.N.(2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. Rex Book
Store, Inc.
2. Albert, J. (2008). Basic statistics for the tertiary level (1st ed.).
Rex Printing Company.
3.Altares, P. et al (2012). Elementary statistics with computer
applications (2nd ed.). Rex Printing Company.
4. Daligdig, R.M. (2019). Mathematics in the Modern World. Lorimar
Publishing, Inc.
5.Carpio, J.N. and Peralta, B.D. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern
World. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.
6.Olejan, R.O., Veloria, E.V., Bonghanoy, G.B., Ondaro, J.E.,and
Sumalinog, J.D. (2018). Mathematics in the Modern World. MUTYA
Publishing House, Inc.
7.Manlulu, E.A. and Hipolito, L.M. (2019). A Course Module for
Mathematics in the Modern World. Rex Book Store, Inc.