Knowledge is vast. Grasping knowledge is a never-ending process. It is further divided into various parts and categories. Two main categories are theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Theoretical knowledge is learning numbers to write the alphabet, learning about the history of our country, and exploring the geographical boundaries of the world in a textbook or the learner’s guide.
All of this theoretical knowledge is called educating children and getting them the degrees and certifications they need to pursue their career to have a better life and to get ahead in life. And hence, today we will discuss the difference between percentage and percentile. Because everything we achieve in life is either based on a percentage or its percentile, so let us shed some light on the difference between percentage and percentile with examples.
As we were discussing theoretical knowledge, for which we take unit tests and annual exams and move on to the next class the following year. Each year, children score marks out of the total number of marks for the examination they have taken. For example, if a pupil has scored 65 marks out of 100 (100 being the total number of marks), that individual has managed to score 65 percent in that examination.
So, one may ask, what is a percentage? Well, it can be said that a percentage is a unit of measurement in math that displays the answer out of a total of 100. Percentage is not measured in quartiles. A percentage will never surprise the individual when it is displayed in decimals and ratios too, as that form of value is the basic characteristic of a percentage. Now, since we know what a percentage is, let us quickly have a look and understand what a percentile is.
A percentile is not the same as a percentage. A percentile is the comparison between a student’s score with the rest of the group or the whole class. In the scenario mentioned below, let us assume that an individual scores 76 points on a test, and the same individual is ranked at the 85th percentile. It simply indicates that the score of 76 is higher than 85 percent of the scores for the rest of the group or a class.
It might be a thing that we may have previously not known of, but we derive the term “percentage” from the Latin vocabulary, which means “per centum,” also known as “per hundred.” whereas percentile tells us about the comparison in the position of each one’s achievement with respect to the numbers scored. After calculating the percentage for a group of values, we then arrange them in ascending order and determine the rank of one value with the others. We refer to this comparison unit of measure as a percentile.
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Understanding the Difference Between Percentage and Percentile
The symbolic representation of a percentage is denoted by “%”, if used as a numerical it will look somewhat like this: 30%. The symbolic representation of a percentile is denoted by “Xth“, if used as a numerical it will look somewhat like this: 30th.
Percentages are not based on the rank or position of numbers; however, it is the opposite with percentiles. Percentile is completely based on the position or rank of numbers. The major difference between a percentage and a percentile is their formula.
Understanding how a percentage is calculated by the following formula
Numerator divided by the denominator multiplied by a hundred. This formula calculates a percentage.
Understanding how a percentile is calculated by the following formula
R equals P divided by a hundred (N plus 1)
In the above formula, R represents the rank of the score achieved, P is the percentile rank, and N is the number of a score in a distribution.
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All of these points of discussion enhance an individual’s knowledge to understand the difference between a percentage and a percentile. Now, since we are aware of the difference between a percentage and a percentile, let us discuss the difference between a percentile and a percentile rank.
A percentile is best known as the percentage of values found under specific values. On the other hand, a percentile rank of a score is the percentage of scores in its frequency distribution that are equal to or lower than it. For better understanding, let us support this with an example.
A student scores a number in a test that is greater than 75% of the scores achieved by the rest of the population in the class. This is the moment when it is indicated that the student, achieving a higher number than 75% of the scores achieved by the rest of the population, is at the 75th percentile. In this case, “75” is the percentile rank.
This is how a clear explanation could be given to understand the difference between a percentile and a percentile rank. Percentiles divide the data set, which has a rank in hundred parts, equally in nature. The Kth percentile is denoted by Pk. Here in this scenario, it is not a reference to the movie “PK”; in this case, K is an integer in the range one to ninety-nine.
A question may arise in the minds of many: what is the need to learn all of this? An individual can never separate from percentage and percentile as is. Working professionals might have heard the terms “top quartile” and “bottom quartile”. In the corporate world or the so-called universe of multinational companies (MNC), the interpretation of percentages and percentiles is very different from what a child learns in school or college. This can be an example of practical knowledge and implementation.
Now that we have discussed the difference between a percentile and a percentile rank, let us delve into and discuss the difference between a percentage and percentiles with examples. Listed below is the difference between a percentage and percentiles with examples.
Out of 80 marks, in the case of student “A” achieving 58 marks, “A” managed to score 72.5 percent and the 77th percentile. Similarly, if student “B” achieved 62 marks out of 80, “B” achieved 77.5 percent and the 88th percentile. This is an explanation to display the difference between a percentage and a percentile with examples. In today’s discussion, we have learned about what a percentage is and what a percentile is.
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At EuroSchool, we ensure that our students learn this basic difference between a percentage and a percentile from early childhood. It is imperative that every child knows and understands this difference to enable themselves with the knowledge that can be implemented in the real world. This understanding can act as a stepping stone towards the world of managing statistics.
