Expert: Pawan Musale - 4/6/2009

Question
I am having trouble figuring out what exactly percent distribution is in math and why it's important. Any guidance and examples you have would be great!

Answer
David,

What is percent distribution:
Percent Distribution is used for interpreting statistical data. We will look into one example:

Suppose there are three candidates (A, B, C) contesting an election. Now suppose one agency carries out survey among 1000 people and they get following results:

200 say that A will win
500 say that B will win
300 say that C will win

Now if the agency declares results in the same fashion as above, then it will be meaningless to say that "200 say that A will win". Because no one will know that 200 out of how many? But if you convert all the data in percentage form, then there is one base point. If you say "20% say that A will win", then it makes sense.

Percent distribution is very useful and always used to represent statistical data. Analysis of this can be represented very easily in graphics form also.

I hope this will clear your doubts. Kindly let me know if you need further guidance.

Regards,
Pawan