How percentile approximation works and why it's more useful than averages

Re:How percentile approximation works and why it's more usef... by louisnow on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @02:12PM (#28528521)

```To calculate the 10th percentile, let’s say we have 10,000 values. We take all of the values, order them from largest to smallest, and identify the 1001st value (where 1000 or 10% of the values are below it), which will be our 10th percentile.```

Isn't this contradictory? If we order the values from largest to smallest and take the 1001st value, then 10 % of the values are above/larger and not below/smaller. I believe it should say order from smallest to largest.

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Re:How percentile approximation works and why it's more usef... by djk447 on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @02:19PM (#28528607)

NB: Post author here.

Oops, yep, that should probably be order from smallest to largest. Thanks for the correction!

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Re:How percentile approximation works and why it's more usef... by djk447 on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @03:14PM (#28529570)

Fixed!

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Re:How percentile approximation works and why it's more usef... by emgo on Tuesday September 14, 2021 @02:18PM (#28528605)

Yes, this looks like a typo in the article. It should be smallest to largest.

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Re:How percentile approximation works and why it's more usef... by LoriP on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @12:18PM (#28541012)

Thanks, we corrected this quite quickly. Appreciated!

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