Blood pressure Larry came home very excited after a visit to his doctor. He announced proudly to his wife, “My doctor says my blood pressure is at the $90th$percentile among men like me. That means I’m better off than about $90\%$ of similar men.” How should his wife, who is a statistician, respond to Larry’s statement?

Larry's blood pressure is in the $90th$ percentile for males his age, according to his doctor. That suggests he's in a better position than almost $90\%$ of similar males. We need to figure out how his statistician wife should react to Larry's statement.

A score in the $95th$ percentile is a figure on a scale of $100$ that represents the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it.

"My blood pressure is in the $90th$percentile for guys my age, according to my doctor." That indicates I'm in a better position than roughly 90% of similar males. L's doctor provided him a report that said his blood pressure was in the $90th$percentile for men. According to the report, their blood pressure is in the $90th$percentile, meaning that $90\%$of men's blood pressure is below L's blood pressure and only $10\%$of men's blood pressure is above L's blood pressure. L's blood pressure, in other words, separates $10\%$of the highest blood pressures from 90% of the lowest blood pressures. As a result, $L$ must be concerned about his blood pressure.