Q3
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Third quarter |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements |
Q3 has two meanings. It stands for Third quarter (time) or Third quartile (statistics).
Meanings of Q3 at a glance
| # | Q3 stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Third quarter | Units & Measurements › Time |
| 2 | Third quartile | Units & Measurements › Statistics |
1. Third quarter
Units & Measurements · Time Abbreviations · also used in business
July through September in a calendar year. It spans the Northern Hemisphere summer holidays, which shape travel, hospitality and retail results, plus back-to-school spending in August and September.
Example: Q3 bookings for the airline hit a record as summer travel surged.
For the US federal government Q3 is April to June, and for Apple, whose fiscal year ends in late September, fiscal Q3 is roughly April to June as well. Companies usually report Q3 earnings in October and November. In statistics, Q3 means the third quartile, the 75th percentile.
2. Third quartile
Units & Measurements · Statistics Abbreviations
The 75th percentile: three quarters of the observations lie at or below it. The distance from Q1 to Q3 is the interquartile range.
Example: Salaries in the department run from a Q1 of $58,000 to a Q3 of $91,000.
Box plots mark Q3 as the top of the box, and the upper outlier fence sits at Q3 + 1.5 × IQR. Excel's QUARTILE.INC and QUARTILE.EXC functions can return slightly different Q3 values for the same data. In business, Q3 is the third quarter, July to September.
Related abbreviations
More time abbreviations
- ns – Nanosecond
- p.m. – Post meridiem (after midday)
- Q1 – First quarter
- Q2 – Second quarter
- Q4 – Fourth quarter
- QoQ – Quarter over quarter
- QTD – Quarter to date
- qtr – Quarter
See all 51 time abbreviations →