Definition, Meaning & Synonyms

percentile

noun

/pərˈsɛnˌtaɪl/

Definition

A percentile is a measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a percentage of observations falls.

Examples

In the test results, Sarah was in the 95th percentile for math, which means she scored better than 95% of the students.
To determine the economic standing, many researchers look at income percentiles.
The 25th percentile is often used to address underperforming students in academic settings.

Meaning

Percentiles help to understand how a particular score compares to others in a dataset. For example, being in the 90th percentile means that you scored higher than 90% of the participants.