Order statistic

In statistics, the n-th order statistic for a sample is equal to the n-th smallest sample value.

For example, if the sample values are

3, 6, 8, 9

then the second order statistic is

X₍₂₎ = 6

The first order statistic (or smallest order statistic) is always the minimum of the sample. For a sample of size N, the N-th order statistic (or largest order statistic) is the maximum.

Contrast with ranked data[?] (name??)....

Contrast with quantiles....

Distributional properties, etc....

See also: Box plot