LOCATING PERCENTILES

UNDER THE NORMAL CURVE

Sketch the graph of the following and find the
probability.

1. below z= -1.96
2. to the left of z = 1.96
3. to the right of z = 2.58
Which of the following expressions are
familiar to you?

• ‘First Honor’
• ‘Top Five’
• ‘a score of 98%’
LEARNING COMPETENCY:
• Compute percentiles using the standard normal curve.
(M11/12SP – IIIc -d1)
Learning Objectives:
1.Discusses what percentiles are in relation to the normal
curve;
2.Solves percentiles using standard normal table.
3.Demonstrates critical thinking in solving probabilities
using standard normal table.
4.Relates a personal experience where the concept of
probabilities using the standard normal table is applied
PERCENTILE

• For any set of measurements (arranged in

ascending or descending order), a percentile (or a
centile) is a point in the distribution such that a
given number of cases is below it.

• A percentile is a measure of relative standing. It is

a descriptive measure of the relationship of a
measurement to the rest of the data.
Example:

• In a test in Algebra, you got a score of 82 and you

want to know how you fared in comparison with
your classmates. If your teacher tells you that you
scored at the 90th percentile, it means that 90% of
the grades were lower than yours and 10% were
higher.
Percentile and z-scores

 A probability value corresponds to an area under

the normal curve.
 In the Table of Areas Under the Normal Curve, the
numbers in the extreme left and across the top are
z-scores, which are the distances along the
horizontal scale. The numbers in the body of the
table are areas or probabilities.
Steps in locating percentile under the
normal curve:
1. Convert the given percentile to percent
2. Change from percent to decimal value.
3. Locate the given area in the Table of Areas to find
the corresponding z - value.
if the exact area is not available, we take the
nearest area
4. Look up the corresponding z-value in the Table of
Areas or in the z-Table
Example:

1. 96th
2. 75th
3. 10th
4. The results of the nationwide aptitude test
in Mathematics are normally distributed with
an average of 80 and a standard deviation of
15. What is the percentile rank of a score of
84?
5. Suppose that you enter a fishing contest. The
contest takes place in a pond where the fish
lenghts have a normal distribution with a mean
of 16 inches and standard deviation of 4 inches.
Now suppose you want to know what lenght
marks the bottom 10 percent of all the fish
lenghts in the pond. What percentile are you
looking for?
6. In a college admission test taken by 200
students, the average score was 75 with a
standard deviation of 5. If the college will only
accept top 30% of all the examinees based on
the result of the students’ admission test. What
score should the student get? Assume that the
scores are approximately normally distributed.
7. X is normal with a mean of 100 and a
standard deviation of 15 . What IQ must a
person have in order to be in the top 1% of
IQs?
Group Work

• The final exams scores in statistics class were

normally distributed within a mean of 63 and a
standard deviation of 5.
a. Find the 97.5th percentile
b. Find the 90 percentile
th

c. Find the 25th percentile

Assessment (Individual Work)
Find the following percentile points under the normal
curve:
1. 99th percentile
2. 88th percentile
3. 73.5th percentile
4. 40th percentile
5. 32.5th percentile