To be sure, doctors' earnings put them in the top 3 percent of all earners in the United States.

A family with two public school teachers can earn enough to put it in the top 4 percent of families on Long Island.

The company sells for 12 times projected 1999 earnings, putting it in the bottom 10 percent of companies its size.

The merely rich are those whose income puts them in the top 1 percent of the population.

At last year's marathon, it would have put him in the top 1.6 percent of the finishers.

That would put you in the top 0.3 percent of America's households, or 1 in every 556 families.

That last quality put him in the top 3 or 4 percent.

That puts it in the top 34 percent of small blend funds.

That puts it in the top 9 percent of its peers, which have an average total return this year of 21.48 percent.

That performance put it in the top 2 percent of all food products introduced in the last six years, according to Information Resources.