QUARTILES

DEFINITION,
FORMULA &
EXAMPLES
Submitted by: Roxan Joy Viña
Quartiles Definition
Quartiles divide the entire set into four equal parts. So, there are three quartiles, first, second and third
represented by Q1, Q2 and Q3, respectively. Q2 is nothing but the median, since it indicates the position of
the item in the list and thus, is a positional average. To find quartiles of a group of data, we have to arrange
the data in ascending order.

Quartiles are three values that split sorted data into four parts, each with an equal number of observations.
Quartiles are a type of quantile.

First quartile: Also known as Q1, or the lower quartile. This is the number halfway between the lowest
number and the middle number.

Second quartile: Also known as Q2, or the median. This is the middle number halfway between the lowest
number and the highest number.

Third quartile: Also known as Q3, or the upper quartile. This is the number halfway between the middle
number and the highest number.
Quartiles Formula
Suppose, Q3 is the upper quartile is the median of the upper half of the data set. Whereas, Q1 is the lower
quartile and median of the lower half of the data set. Q2 is the median. Consider, we have n number of
items in a data set. Then the quartiles are given by;

Q1 = [(n+1)/4]th item
Q2 = [(n+1)/2]th item
Q3 = [3(n+1)/4]th item

Hence, the formula for quartile can be given by;

Quartile Formula
Where, Qr is the rth quartile

l1 is the lower limit

l2 is the upper limit
f is the frequency

c is the cumulative frequency of the class preceding the quartile class.

Quartiles Examples

Example 1: Find the quartiles of the following data: 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 23, 34.

Solution: Here the numbers are arranged in the ascending order and
number of items, n = 7

Lower quartile, Q1 = [(n+1)/4] th item

Q1= 7+1/4 = 2nd item = 6

Median, Q2 = [(n+1)/2]th item

Q2= 7+1/2 item = 4th item = 8

Upper Quartile, Q3 = [3(n+1)/4]th item

Q3 = 3(7+1)/4 item = 6th item = 23

Example 2: Find the Quartiles of the following age: 23, 13, 37, 16, 26,
35, 26, 35

Solution:

First, we need to arrange the numbers in increasing order.

Therefore, 13, 16, 23, 26, 26, 35, 35, 37

Number of items, n = 8

Lower quartile, Q1 = [(n+1)/4] th item

Q1 = 8+1/4 = 9/4 = 2.25th term

From the quartile formula we can write;

Q1 = 2nd term + 0.25(3rd term-2nd term)

Q1= 16+0.25(23-26) = 15.25

Similarly,

Median, Q2 = [(n+1)/2]th item

Q2 = 8+1/2 = 9/2 = 4.5

Q2 = 4th term+0.5 (5th term-4th term)

Q2= 26+0.5(26-26) = 26

And,

Upper Quartile, Q3 = [3(n+1)/4]th item

Q3 = 3(8+1)/4 = 6.75th term

Q3 = 6th term + 0.75(7th term-6th term)

Q3 = 35+0.75(35-35) = 35
Example 3:

Imagine you conducted a small study on language development in

children 1–6 years old. You’re writing a paper about the study and you
want to report the quartiles of the children’s ages.

Age (years) 1 2 3 4 5 6
Frequency 2 3 4 1 2 2

Step 1: Count the number of observations in the dataset

n = 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 14

Step 2: Sort the observations in increasing order

1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6

Step 3: Find the first quartile

n * (1 / 4) = 14 * (1 / 4) = 3.5
3.5 is not an integer, so Q1 is the number at position 4.
1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6
Q1 = 2 years
Step 4: Find the second quartile
n * (2 / 4) = 14 * (2 / 4) = 7
7 is an integer, so Q2 is the mean of the numbers at positions 7 and 8.
1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6
Q2 = (3 + 3) / 2
Q2 = 3 years

Step 5: Find the third quartile

n * (3 / 4) = 14 * (3 / 4) = 10.5
10.5 is not an integer, so Q3 is the number at position 11.
1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6
Q3 = 5 years
THANK YOU
&
GOD BLESS