Percentages, Proportions, and Relative Frequency

Manual: General · Subject: Statistics

Use percentages and relative frequency to compare data fairly.

Comparing groups fairly

Relative frequency tells us what proportion of the whole each category represents. It is often written as a decimal, fraction, or percentage.

Relative frequency is $\text{relative frequency} = \frac{\text{category frequency}}{\text{total frequency}}$

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Percent means per hundred

To convert a proportion to a percentage, multiply by $100$ .

Example: favorite sport

If 8 out of 40 students like basketball, what is the relative frequency?

0.02 0.20 0.80 5.00

Convert $0.35$ to a percentage.

Which is a better comparison than raw counts when group sizes differ?

Median Relative frequency Range Mode

Why is percentage useful in statistics?