percentile

You probably found that word in Statistics of a class when calculating exam results .It is a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it.

For example:

a percentile score of 80 is a score equal to 80 or better than 80% of the scores obtained.

I believe it refers to statictics. If you consider how a collection of values or samples distributes over the whole spectrum/scale, you can divide up this whole set of values into equally sized subsets ; say from the 10% lowest values to the 10% highest values. The 10% percentile is the value that has 10% of the sampled population below it (smaller than). The 90% percentile is the value that has

Arrgh... Once again Savvy beat me to it... I just feel useless... Snif...

Thank you both you're extremely useful but I still have a question:

So you actually say that the a 80-th percentile is all

Maverick88Thank you both you're extremely useful but I still have a question:

So you actually sa

OK got it thanks

P.S. Yes, I'm sorry (you got right what I meant)

Mav,
Actually I'm not sure what you mean by 'to score 80'. If this is the variable that you are statistically studying and sampling that has this value of 80 (whatever it is) then no, it doesn't quite work like you suggest.
The 80% percentile is the exact value that has 80% of the sampled population below it and 20% of the population above it.
Let's assume for argument's sake

Hello Maverick,

I just came across this link: http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/percentile.html

Hope that steers clear of all your doubts.

Savvy

So...Is scoring in the 98th percentile good?

I'd say the 90 percentile. From 90 to 99