Difference Between Percentage and Percentile

It is important to know the key differences between Percentage and Percentile. They are both mathematical terms that are used in daily mathematics to calculate for certain problems to obtain solutions. Percentage refers to a mathematical unit of measurement out of a total of 100. Considering the denominator as 100, you can make the assumption that to measure percentage the maximum percentage admissible and even achievable by anybody would be 100%. Thus, this is the key definition of Percentage. A percentile on the other hand can be defined as a range of percentage values found below a specific value. It is important to know the percentage formula to solve these problems.

Difference between Percentage and Percentile

The simplest way to understand the key differences between Percentage and Percentile are through examples.

If a student scores 55 marks in their math exams out of a total score of 100, then he or she has scored 55% aggregate in their math exams. The 55% is the percentage scored by the student in the math exam.

To understand this better if we assume that a student has 80th percentile on a test of 150. By this we can understand the term percentile better and know that by scoring 150 in the exam, a student has beaten 80% of the remaining class in the exam.

Difference between Percentage and Percentile

Percentage

Percentile

A mathematical unit of measurement that displays the answer out of a total of 100.

Percentile is a value from which the values of percentages below it are found.

The unit of percentage is denoted by %

The unit of percentile is denoted by xth, for example 30th,

A percentage can be written in the form of ratios.

A percentile meanwhile cannot be written in the form of ratios.

Percentages can also be written in the form of decimals.

Percentiles on the other hand cannot be written in the form of decimals.

Percentages on the other hand are not based on the rank of numbers.

A percentile is based on the rank of numbers.