Lesson 5
1. Lesson 5
1.8. Explore 4
Module 4: Statistics
In Self-Check 3 you saw how percentile rank can help health-care workers determine if a child is growing at a healthy rate based on his or her percentile rank of height at different ages. In the next Try This you will determine the percentile rank for your height at birth and then at today's date.
Try This 2
|
Average Height Range |
Median Height |
Newborn Boy |
45–55 cm |
50 cm |
Newborn Girl |
45–54 cm |
49 cm |
Investigate your birth height and determine your percentile rank in the Canadian population. If you are unsure of your height at birth, you may use this table of data that was extracted from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Measure your height today and determine your percentile rank using the growth charts.
Save your responses in your course folder.
Share 2
With a partner or in a group, discuss Try This 2 and answer these questions.
- How have you changed in your percentile ranking from birth to today?
- Have you grown faster or slower than your peers?
Place a summary of your discussion in your course folder.
In the previous activities you may have noticed that you used the same process to calculate percentile rank.
Percentile rank (PR) can be calculated using the formula 
, where b is the number of values below the one being considered and n is the total number of values in the data set.
Source: MathWorks 12 Student Book/Teacher Guide. (Vancouver:Pacific Educational Press, 2011.)
Use the formula for calculating percentile rank to answer the questions in the following Self-Check.
Self-Check 4
Go to page 137 of your textbook and complete “Example 1.” When you are finished, check your solutions with the textbook answers on pages 137 and 138.
How does percentile rank relate to mean, median, or mode?
In the next Self-Check you will look at how the median is related to percentile rank.