XL: PERCENTRANK() May Appear to Return Incorrect Results

 Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
Article ID: Q129436
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0, 5.0c
  • Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 4.0, 5.0, 5.0a
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
  • Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you use PERCENTRANK to find the percentage rank of a number, the results may appear to be incorrect.

CAUSE

If the largest number in your list occurs more than once, the rank assigned to that number will be different than if it occurs only once. When the largest number occurs only once, the percentage rank given to it is 1. However, if the largest number occurs more than once, it will be given a percentage rank other than 1.

MORE INFORMATION

To create an example of how the PERCENTRANK function returns different percentages when a number occurs more than once in the list of numbers, type the following in a new worksheet: 

    A1: 1        B1: =PERCENTRANK($A$1:$A$4,A1)   (result in B is 1)
    A2: .75      B2: =PERCENTRANK($A$1:$A$4,A2)   (result in B is 0.666)
    A3: .5       B3: =PERCENTRANK($A$1:$A$4,A3)   (result in B is 0.333)
    A4: .25      B4: =PERCENTRANK($A$1:$A$4,A4)   (result in B is 0)

    A6:  1      B6: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A6)   (result in B is 0.857)
    A7:  .75    B7: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A7)   (result in B is 0.571)
    A8:  .5     B8: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A8)   (result in B is 0.285)
    A9:  .25    B9: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A9)   (result in B is 0)
   A10:  1      B10: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A10) (result in B is 0.857)
   A11:  .75    B11: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A11) (result in B is 0.571)
   A12:  .5     B12: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A12) (result in B is 0.285)
   A13:  .25    B13: =PERCENTRANK($A$6:$A$13,A13) (result in B is 0)
If you look at the percentage rank given to the value 1 in the first set of numbers and compare it to the percentage rank given to the value 1 in the second set of numbers, it may appear that the function is not working properly. However, this result is by design of the PERCENTRANK function. If the highest value occurs more than once, it must share the highest percentage rank, and, therefore, it will not be given a percentage rank of 1.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide," version 5.0, Chapter 31, "Rank and Percentile"

For more information about the PERCENTRANK function, choose the Search button in Help and type: 

   percentrank

Additional query words: 98 97 7.00 7.00a 5.00 5.00a 5.00c percent XL98 XL97
XL7 XL5
Keywords : xlformula
Version : WINDOWS:4.0,5.0,5.0c,7.0,97; MACINTOSH:4.0,5.0,98
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS

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Last reviewed: February 2, 1998
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