tercile

Tercile is a statistical term referring to one of three equal parts into which a ranked data set can be divided. Similar to quartiles and percentiles, terciles are used to divide a distribution of data into segments based on their values. The first tercile marks the point below which approximately one-third of the data falls, the second tercile (also known as the median) marks the point below which approximately two-thirds of the data falls, and the third tercile marks the point below which all of the data falls. In essence, terciles divide a dataset into three ordered groups. These divisions are particularly useful for understanding the distribution of data and identifying where specific values lie within that distribution. For example, in a study on income, terciles could be used to show the income ranges for the lowest third, middle third, and highest third of the population. Calculating terciles involves ranking the data and then identifying the values that correspond to these one-third divisions. While not as commonly used as quartiles, terciles provide a way to analyze data in three equally sized portions.