What are the 10th percentile and z-score for a set of eye measurements?

  • Thread starter Thread starter n77ler
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around calculating the 10th percentile and the z-score for a set of eye measurements obtained from university students. The measurements are provided, and the original poster attempts to find the 10th percentile and interpret the z-score for an outlier value.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster calculates the index for the 10th percentile and identifies the corresponding measurement. They also attempt to compute the z-score but question the validity of their result. Other participants suggest checking the formula for the z-score and clarify the need for the standard deviation in the calculation.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants providing guidance on the z-score formula and encouraging clearer expression of questions. There is no explicit consensus yet, as participants are exploring different aspects of the problems presented.

Contextual Notes

Participants are addressing potential misunderstandings regarding the calculation of the z-score, particularly the denominator, and the interpretation of the results. The original poster's calculations are based on a specific set of measurements, and there is an acknowledgment of the presence of an outlier.

n77ler
Messages
89
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement



The following 25 measurements were obtained on the eyes of over 100 university students.
0.04 0.06 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.12 0.15 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.20 0.21 1.07

a) Find the 10th percentile of these measurements. Interpret the result
b)Calculate the z-score for the measurement of 1.07. Interpret the result.

Homework Equations



I= (P/100)n
P defined as percentile
n defined as #of measurements


The Attempt at a Solution



I= (10/100)25 = 2.5 Round up to 3. So the 10th percentile is the third value when rearranged from smallest to greatest. It ends up being the second 0.06 value in the set. So how do I write the final answer? Do I just circle the third value?
z-score needs mean. x(bar)= sum of all numbers/ number of measurements
mean= 0.1544
z-score= (1.07-0.1544)/25 = 0.0366 but this seems a little small for a z-score doesn't it? when the number is much bigger(or the outlier) than the rest of the data?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
for the second problem - check your formula for a Z-score.
 
opps is it supposed to be the deviation on bottom?
 
Another little question. If I had a venn diagram and the two circles in it were labelled A and B and they weren't mutually exclusive and I was asked to give the probability of
A and B intersection but A is a complementation. I think it is 0 because there can only be values where the circles overlap and the complementation will have no values.
 
Re the Venn Diagram question: break your question down into sentences and write it more clearly because:
  1. It isn't immediately clear to me what the core question is
  2. Doing so will help you organize your own plan of attach, and
  3. Having your own plan of attack will allow you to provide more information on your attempts to solve the question, which you need to provide before I can help you with it

For the [tex]Z[/tex]-score question: look in your stat book, or notes, or both, for the definition of a sample [tex]Z[/tex]-score - that will clarify the denominator. (word of advice: the denominator is neither the sample size alone nor the standard deviation alone)
 
Last edited:
My textbook shows the denominator as 's' which is the standard deviation? And that's it , nothing else.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 18 ·
Replies
18
Views
7K