PCTL Function

Returns the percentile that corresponds to the percentage.

Category:

Descriptive Statistics

Syntax

PCTL<n> (percentage, value1<,value2,...> )

Required Arguments

percentage

is a numeric constant, variable, or expression that specifies the percentile to be computed.

Requirement

is numeric where, 0 ≤ percentage ≤ 100.

value

is a numeric variable, constant, or expression.

Optional Argument

n

is a digit from 1 to 5 which specifies the definition of the percentile to be computed.

Default

definition 5

Details

The PCTL function returns the percentile of the nonmissing values corresponding to the percentage. If percentage is missing, less than zero, or greater than 100, the PCTL function generates an error message.

Note: The formula that is used in the PCTL function is the same formula that used in PROC UNIVARIATE. For more information, see SAS Elementary Statistics Procedures in Base SAS Procedures Guide.

Example

The following SAS statements produce these results.

SAS Statement	Result
lower_quartile=PCTL(25,2,4,1,3); put lower_quartile;	1.5
percentile_def2=PCTL2(25,2,4,1,3); put percentile_def2;	1
lower_tertile=PCTL(100/3,2,4,1,3); put lower_tertile;	2
percentile_def3=PCTL3(100/3,2,4,1,3); put percentile_def3;	2
median=PCTL(50,2,4,1,3); put median;	2.5
upper_tertile=PCTL(200/3,2,4,1,3); put upper_tertile;	3
upper_quartile=PCTL(75,2,4,1,3); put upper_quartile;	3.5