Percentile Rank Calculator

Example

Input: Rank 5 of 100

Result: 95th Percentile

Step-by-Step Guide

1 Enter Rank: Your position (e.g., 5th place).
2 Enter Total: Total number of participants/entries.
3 Calculate: Converts rank to a percentile score (0-99).

What is Percentile Rank Calculator?

Percentile Rank indicates the percentage of scores in a frequency distribution that are equal to or lower than a particular score. It answers the question: 'What percentage of people did I outperform?'. It is widely used in standardized testing (SAT, GRE) and pediatric growth monitoring.

How it Works

The basic formula compares a specific Rank against the Total Population. Formula: $ \text{Percentile} = \left(1 - \frac{\text{Rank}}{\text{Total}}\right) \times 100 $ Note: Rank 1 is typically the best (highest score), so the formula inverts it to show the percentage of people below that rank.

FAQ

What does 95th percentile mean?

It means you scored higher than 95% of the participants. Only 5% scored better.

Is Rank 1 the 100th percentile?

Technically no, usually 99th or 99.9th, as you cannot outperform 100% of the group (including yourself).

Is a higher percentile always better?

For test scores, yes. For golf scores or race times, a lower 'numerical' value is better, but you'd still be in a 'high' percentile of performance (beating others).

Difference from percentage?

Percentage is correct/total (absolute). Percentile is rank/population (relative).

Used for?

SATs, IQ tests, height/weight charts, income comparison.

Conclusion

Percentiles normalize data, making it comparable across different group sizes. Being in the 90th percentile means you performed better than 90% of the population, regardless of whether the group had 100 or 10,000 people. This context is often more valuable than the raw score itself.

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References & Standards

This calculator uses formulas and data standards from Standard References to ensure accuracy.

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