Cumulative relative frequency

Cumulative relative frequency is the running proportion of the data that falls at or below a given value or category.

Cumulative relative frequency tells you what fraction of the data you have accounted for by the time you reach a certain point, so it rises to 1 as you work through the ordered categories. You compute it as cumulative countn\frac{\text{cumulative count}}{n}, where nn is the total number of observations. In a class of 40 students, if 10 scored below 70 and another 14 scored in the 70s, the cumulative count through the 70s is 24 and the cumulative relative frequency is 24/40=0.6024/40 = 0.60. That 0.60 is also a statement about position: the top of the 70s band sits at roughly the 60th percentile.

More describing data terms, or browse the full statistics glossary.