Quantile

Quantiles are points taken at regular intervals from the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of a random variable. Dividing ordered data into essentially equal-sized data subsets is the motivation for -quantiles; the quantiles are the data values marking the boundaries between consecutive subsets. Put another way, the -quantile for a random variable is the value such that the probability that the random variable will be less than is at most and the probability that the random variable will be more than is at most . There are of the -quantiles, one for each integer satisfying .