Final answer:
The range of a percentile rank score is 1-99, option b. This scale indicates that a certain percentage of scores fall at or below a given score, without including the 0th or the 100th percentiles, which are not actually used in percentile rank calculations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The range of a percentile rank score is from the 1st to the 99th percentile, which is option b: 1-99. Percentile ranks represent the percentage of scores that fall at or below a particular score. The 100th percentile would technically not be valid, as it would indicate a score greater than all scores in the distribution, which is not possible. Furthermore, the 0th percentile is also not used because it would suggest that 0 percent of scores are below it, which does not align with the concept of percentiles. It is important to note that while the 100th percentile is not used when calculating percentiles, sometimes scores can be described as being in the 100th percentile if they are the highest in the dataset, although technically they are considered to be in the 99th percentile.
To find a specific percentile, such as the 90th percentile or 70th percentile, you would determine the score below which a certain percentage of scores fall. For example, in the context of test scores, if you are told that the 90th percentile is 69.4, this means that 90 percent of test scores are at or below 69.4, and 10 percent are above. When using a calculator like the TI-83 or a similar model, you would follow the appropriate steps to calculate the percentile rank.