What is the Difference Between Percentage And Percentile? Know 3 Key differences

Mathematics is not an easy subject. It is tough and confusing, and that’s why many are scared of the subject. One of the most confusing things about the subject is its jargon. One such example is percentage and percentile. More often than not, the two terms are used interchangeably with each other because people are not aware of the distinctions between them. We are here to clear your doubts and confusion. In this article, we will learn the difference between percentages and percentiles.

Difference between Percentage and Percentile

Percentages and percentiles are two ways of expressing data. While percentages are a way of expressing a part of a whole, percentiles are a way of ranking data. This sentence may sound confusing, so here is a simple example to help you understand the difference between the two better:

A percentage is a number or rate that is expressed as a fraction of 100. For example, 50% is equivalent to 50/100, or 0.5.

Percentiles, on the other hand, are a way of ranking data. A percentile is a number that indicates the percentage of data points that are equal to or less than a certain value. For example, if a student scores in the 90th percentile on a test, it means that they scored better than 90% of the other students who took the test.

To further simplify the differences, here is another example.

Percentages are a way of showing how much of something there is. For example, if you have 100 pieces of candy and you give away 50, you've given away 50% of the candy.

Percentiles are a way of comparing how well someone does compared to other people. For example, if you get a 90% on a test, you did better than 90% of the other students who took the test.

Both percentages and percentiles are useful ways of expressing data. Percentages are often used to compare different groups of data, while percentiles are often used to rank data.

Here are some examples of how percentages and percentiles are used:

• Percentages are often used to compare different groups of data. For example, a company might use percentages to compare the sales of different products or the profits of different divisions.
• Percentiles are often used to rank data. For example, a school might use percentiles to rank students on a test or to determine which students are eligible for honors classes.

Difference between Percentage vs Percentile

Here is a table that summarises the difference between percentages and percentiles:

We hope that this article was helpful in explaining the differences between percentages and percentiles.