explain percentiles please

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Guest

I have a list of numbers that represents numbers of peole that attend the
store at various times of the day e.g 4 at 8 am ,9 at 11 am ...3 at 7pm etc
and this is expressed on a graph as the averages for these times of days and
the 90th percentile.

Whats this meaning.

Thanks
Mike
 
Returns the k-th percentile of values in a range. You can use this function
to establish a threshold of acceptance. For example, you can decide to
examine candidates who score above the 90th percentile.

Syntax

PERCENTILE(array,k)

Array is the array or range of data that defines relative standing.

K is the percentile value in the range 0..1, inclusive.

Remarks

If array is empty or contains more than 8,191 data points, PERCENTILE
returns the #NUM! error value.
If k is nonnumeric, PERCENTILE returns the #VALUE! error value.
If k is < 0 or if k > 1, PERCENTILE returns the #NUM! error value.
If k is not a multiple of 1/(n - 1), PERCENTILE interpolates to determine
the value at the k-th percentile.
 
Thanks, but I really am trying to undersatnd what the percentile does - what
it sais about data, so as to decide whether I want that analysis. Can you
explain the way it works and what it sais and why you might use it?

Mike
 
Hi Mike,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentile

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

| Thanks, but I really am trying to undersatnd what the percentile does - what
| it sais about data, so as to decide whether I want that analysis. Can you
| explain the way it works and what it sais and why you might use it?
|
| Mike
|
| "fascal" wrote:
|
| > Returns the k-th percentile of values in a range. You can use this function
| > to establish a threshold of acceptance. For example, you can decide to
| > examine candidates who score above the 90th percentile.
| >
| > Syntax
| >
| > PERCENTILE(array,k)
| >
| > Array is the array or range of data that defines relative standing.
| >
| > K is the percentile value in the range 0..1, inclusive.
| >
| > Remarks
| >
| > If array is empty or contains more than 8,191 data points, PERCENTILE
| > returns the #NUM! error value.
| > If k is nonnumeric, PERCENTILE returns the #VALUE! error value.
| > If k is < 0 or if k > 1, PERCENTILE returns the #NUM! error value.
| > If k is not a multiple of 1/(n - 1), PERCENTILE interpolates to determine
| > the value at the k-th percentile.
| >
| >
| > "MikeR-Oz" wrote:
| >
| > > I have a list of numbers that represents numbers of peole that attend the
| > > store at various times of the day e.g 4 at 8 am ,9 at 11 am ...3 at 7pm etc
| > > and this is expressed on a graph as the averages for these times of days and
| > > the 90th percentile.
| > >
| > > Whats this meaning.
| > >
| > > Thanks
| > > Mike
 
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