What is measures of position?
Measures of position are used for quantitative data that falls on some numerical scale. The most common
measures of position are quartiles, deciles and percentiles.
Quartiles – measures of position that divides the distribution into 4 equal parts where each parts contains 25%.
It means Q1 = 25%, Q2 = 5-%, Q3 = 75% while the remaining is equals to 25% for a total of 100%. Note that
quartiles only had 3 score points Q1, Q2, Q3.
Deciles – measure of position that divides the distribution into 10 equal parts where each parts contains 10% of
the data. It means that D1 = 10%, D2 = 20%, D3 = 30%, D4 = 40%, D5 = 50%, D6 = 60%, D7 =70%, D8 = 80% and
D9 = 90% while the remaining is 10% for a total of 100%. Note that quartiles only had 9 score points D1, D2, D3,
D4, D5, D6, D7, D8, D9.
Percentiles – measure of position that divides the distribution into 100 equal parts where each parts contains
1% of the data. It means that P1 = 1%, P2 = 2%, P3=3%...P99 = 99% while the remaining is 1% for a total of 100%.
Note that percentiles had 99 score points P1, P2, P3, P4…P99.
2 TYPES OF DATA
Grouped data – refers to the data that is organized into categories or intervals for easier analysis. Example
1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16 -20, 21 -25, 26-30
Ungrouped Data – This is the raw data as it is gathered, showing individual data points and their specific
values. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,12,20,23.
Steps to solve measures of position for ungrouped data
For Quartiles
Example Problem: Imagine you are the coach of a basketball team. You’ve recorded the number of
successful three-point shots made by James in each game over a season."
6, 3, 12, 7, 5, 15, 4, 8, 10, 2, 3, 11, 9, 13, 6
Step 1: Arrange the data set into ascending order.
2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Step 2: Solve the formula to calculate it’s position.
k
Q k = ( n+1 )
4
For Q 1 :k=1, n=15 For Q2: k =2, n = 15 For Q2: k =2, n = 15
1 2 3
Q 1= (15+1) Q 2= (15+1) Q 3= (15+1)
4 4 4
1 2 3
Q 1= (16) Q 2= (16) Q 3= (16)
4 4 4
16 32 48
Q 1= Q 2= Q 3=
4 4 4
Q1=4 th Q2=8 th Q3=12 th
Step 4: Locate the data to its computed position.
For Q1: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 Q1 = 4
For Q2: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 Q2 = 7
For Q3: 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 Q3 = 11
Step 5: Interpret the result.
For Q1 : This means, 25% of the games, James made (at most) ≤ 4 three-point shots.
For Q2 : This means that in 50% of the games, James made at most 7 three-point shots.
For Q3 : This means that in 75% of the games, James made at most 11 three-point shots.
Step 6: Solve problems involving quartiles.
(Once the question being asked is already answered it is already considered problem-solved.)
For Deciles
Example Problem: In a milktea shop, the manager asked her crew to record the service time for 15
customers. The following are service time in minutes:
12, 3, 10, 4, 8, 6, 7, 11, 8, 5, 9, 9, 4, 7, 2.
Solve for the value of D3, D5, and D8
Step 1: Arrange the data set into ascending order.
2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12
Step 2: Solve the formula to calculate it’s position.
k
Dk = ( n+1 )
10
For D 3 :k =3 , n=15 For D5: k =5, n = 15 For D8: k =8, n = 15
3 5 8
D 3= (15+1) D 5= (15+1) D 8= (15+1)
10 10 10
3 5 8
D 3= (16) D 5= (16) D 8= (18)
10 10 10
48 80 128
D 3= D 5= D 8=
10 10 10
D3=4.8 5th D5=8th D8=1 0 th
Step 4: Locate the data to its computed position.
For Q1: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 D3 = 5
For Q2: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 D5 = 8
For Q3: 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12 D8 = 11
Step 5: Interpret the result.
For D3 : Since the 3rd decile is the 5th data = 5 this means that 30% or 5 out of 15 customers were
served in ≤ 5 minutes.”
For D5: Since 5th decile is in the 8th data = 7, this means that 50 % or 8 out of 15 customers were served
in ≤ 7 minutes.
For D8 : Since 8th decile is in the 13th data = 10., this means 80% or 13 out of 15 customers were served
in ≤ 10 minutes.
Step 6: Solve problems involving quartiles.
(Once the question being asked is already answered it is already considered problem-solved.)
For Percentiles
Example Problem: The test score of a random sample of ten students in a 50-item test in Algebra are as
follows:
. 15, 42, 18, 40, 20, 23, 33, 35, 29, 28
Solve for the value of P40, P50, and P90
Step 1: Arrange the data set into ascending order.
15, 18, 20, 23, 28, 29, 33, 35, 40, 42.
Step 2: Solve the formula to calculate it’s position.
k
Pk = ( n+1 )
100
For P 40 : k=40 , n=10 For P50: k =50, n = 10 For P90: k =90, n = 10
40 50 90
P40= (10+1) P50= (10+1) P 9 0= (10+1)
100 100 100
40 50 90
P40= (1 1) P50= (11) P 9 0= (1 1)
100 100 100
440 550 9 90
P40= P50= P90=
100 100 100
P40=4.4 4 th P50=5.5 5 th(since data is only 10) P90=9.9 9(Since data is only 10)
Step 4: Locate the data to its computed position.
For Q1: 15, 18, 20, 23, 28, 29, 33, 35, 40, 42. P40 = 23
For Q2: 15, 18, 20, 23, 28, 29, 33, 35, 40, 42. P50 = 28
For Q3: 15, 18, 20, 23, 28, 29, 33, 35, 40, 42. P90 = 40
Step 5: Interpret the result.
For P40 : This means that 40% of the students got a score of ≤ 23 while 60% of the students got a score
of ≥ 23”
For P50: This means that 50% of the students got a score of ≤ 28 while other 50% of the students got a
score of ≥ 28.
For P90: This means that 90% of the students got a score of ≤ 40 while only 10% of the students got a
score of ≥ 40.
Step 6: Solve problems involving quartiles.
(Once the question being asked is already answered it is already considered problem-solved.)
