The PERCENTILE() function returns the value that is above the nth percentile of a set of values. The syntax for the function is PERCENTILE (array, nth_percentile). The argument "array" can be numerical values, references to a range of cells or a named range of which you want to find the percentile (up to 8191 data points) and the "nth_percentile" is the percentile value that you want to find in the set (which must be equal to or between 0 and 1). The percentile is a way of giving meaning to the proportions of a data set that should fall into a specific value range. For example: If you scored in the 70th percentile for an exam then your grade would be above that of 70% of the people who took the same exam. Note this does not mean you grade was 70%). eg. PERCENTILE ({1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10},0.2) = 2.8 As 20% of the values in the array {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10} are below 2.8 The 25th percentile is the first quartile of a distribution of data values, the 50th percentile is the second quartile and is also the median value in the distribution, the 75th percentile represents the third quartile and the 100th percentile is the fourth quartile. [Finding the percentiles of a distribution of exam results] [Finding the percentiles of a distribution of heights] To learn more about the percentile in mathematics see: [The Percentile Mathematics Knowledgebase]

How to use the PERCENTILE() function: Type " =PERCENTILE( " Enter the reference for the array of data "A2:A10". Type a comma. Enter the percentile range "0.2". Type")" then press the "Enter" key.

Note: If the "nth_percentile" is a non numeric value the PERCENTILE function will return a #VALUE error to the cell and if the "nth_percentile" is not between zero and 1 the PERCENTILE function will return a #NUM error.