Final answer:
Your baby boy, being in the top 65% of baby boy heights, is in the 35th percentile. Percentiles are calculated as 100 minus the percentage above the measured value, which is why we subtract 65 from 100 to get 35. Human height is a continuous variable and can be measured to assess growth patterns.
Step-by-step explanation:
If your doctor has told you that your baby boy's height is in the top 65% of baby boy heights, we are looking at the concept of percentiles in statistics. The percentile rank of a score is the percentage of scores in its frequency distribution that are equal to or lower than it. For your baby, this means that he is taller than 35% of other baby boys, thus he is in the 35th percentile, not the 65th. We use the figure (1 - 0.65) to find the percentile, because the top 65% means that 35% fall below. In percentile terms, the percentile is represented as 35.00, not .3500. Percentiles are always between 0 and 100, and do not use decimal places like proportions do.
Regarding the measurement data, human height is considered a continuous variable that can be measured in millimeters or centimeters and compared over different time frames or intervals, as indicated in the references provided. As such, when looking at distribution of heights, we refer to continuous data which can be plotted on a chart and analyzed to understand growth patterns or determine individual percentiles.