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The 98th Percentile - What does it mean?

• 68.26894921371% of the area under the curve is within one standard deviation of the mean.
• 95.44997361036% of the area is within two standard deviations.
• 99.73002039367% of the area is within three standard deviations.
• 99.99366575163% of the area is within four standard deviations.
• 99.99994266969% of the area is within five standard deviations.
• 99.99999980268% of the area is within six standard deviations.
• 99.99999999974% of the area is within seven standard deviations.

        from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution

• Mensa offers membership to "intellectually gifted" people, i.e. those that score in the 98th percentile of the general population.

Membership in Mensa is open to persons who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised. There is no other qualification or disqualification for membership eligibility. [...]

Candidates for membership in Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98th percentile (a score that is greater than or equal to 98 percent of the general population taking the test) on a standard test of intelligence.

http://www.mensa.org/index0.php?page=10&PHPSESSID=73a0cbb8797c55cab60f23ad695593f7

• According to Florida Today children who read 1 hour per day score in the 98th percentile in reading tests.

Children who score:

• 98 percentile in reading, read one hour daily.
• 50 percentile in reading, read five minutes daily.
• 20 percentile in reading, read less than one minute daily.

http://www.floridatoday.com/sections/BackToSchool/0721readers.htm

• Many environmental studies or agencies identify the 98th percentile of emission of the 24 hour mean value of a certain chemical as the daily maximum allowed or tolerable.

http://reports.eea.europa.eu/2599XXX/en/page007.html

• According to the National Library of Medicine children whose weight is in the 98th percentile are considered obese.

The percentage of obese (BMI>98(th) percentile for age), overweight (BMI 88(th)-98(th) percentile) and underweight (BMI < 2(nd) percentile) based on published percentile BMI curves for the UK adolescent population

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15970248&dopt=Abstract

• The Australian Mathematics Competition defines score in the 98th percentile as highly distinct.

Despite the name of the competition, students are allocated awards for their performance relative to other students in their region, of the same year level. For Australian students, this means their State or Territory, and for other students, their country. Although the personal data such as date of birth and gender are collected, this is not used in the percentile ranking, which is only determined by the raw score. The award scheme is as such

• Prize - Students above the 99.7 percentile
• High Distinction - Students between the 98 and 99.7 percentile
• Distinction -Students between the 85 and 98 percentile
• Credit - Students between the 50 and 85 percentile
• Participation - Students below the 50 percentile

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

• The 98th percentile of income in the United States is according to Hobson's Choice around $150 k per year.

In fact, income levels for the 98th percentile are about $150 K per annum, but at higher levels this rapidly climbs far above any normal concentration.

http://www.jamesrmaclean.com/archives/archive_income_inequality_1.html

• According to www.wmich.edu/cpmp/unitsamples/c3u5/C3U5_362-375.pdf  the average height in the US for young men age 18 - 24 is 173.99 cm with a standard deviation of 6.858 cm
  • 68% are shorter than 173.99 + 6.858 = 180.84 cm
  • 95% are shorter than 173.99 + 2*6.858 = 187.70 cm
  • 99% are shorter than 173.99 + 3*6.858 = 194.56 cm
  • 99.99% are shorter than 173.99 + 4*6.858 = 201.42 cm
  • 99.9999% are shorter than 173.99 + 5*6.858 = 208.28 cm
  • 99.999999% are shorter than 173.99 + 6*6.858 = 215.14 cm
  • 99.999999999% are shorter than 173.99 + 7*6.858 = 221.99

  or

  • 1 in 3 is taller than 180.84 cm
  • 1 in 20 is taller than 187.70 cm
  • 1 in 100 is taller than 194.56 cm
  • 1 in 1,000 is taller than 201.42 cm
  • 1 in 10,000 is taller than 208.28 cm
  • 1 in 100,000,000 is taller than 215.14 cm
  • 1 in 100,000,000,000 is taller than 221.99

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