Talk:Rankit

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In my last edit summary, I should have said it's a normal probability plot regardless of whether the underlying distribution is normal. Rankits are based on a normal distribution. Normal probability plots are used in order (among other things) diagnose non-normality! Michael Hardy 23:49, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

This topic seems extremely obscure. Even the reference link gives nothing on what a rankit is. A search on Google turns up extremely little. Even information on the Mr. Bliss is very scarce. So, the question is: is this something that people actually use? It seems that its utility is very, very low relative to the Q-Q plot. Can anyone demonstrate real utilization of it? I'd like to suggest removing this topic as an idea that not only never caught on, because it is basically useless.

It is certainly something that virtually all statisticians use all the time. Normal probability plots are standard fair. The individual numbers may often be called "expected normal order statistics" or the like, rather than "rankits". In the graduate program in statistics at the University of Minnesota, use of the term is widespread, perhaps because one of the professors studied under Chester Bliss. I think having a short term rather than a long descriptive phrase is useful Michael Hardy 21:02, 3 November 2006 (UTC)