Statistics Behind Latency Metrics: Understanding P90, P95, and P99

When dealing with performance metrics, especially in systems with variable response times, it's crucial to understand how latency metrics like P90, P95, and P99 play a role. These percentiles offer insights into the distribution of response times, helping you pinpoint performance issues that might not be evident from average values alone. In this article, we'll dive deep into these metrics, explore how they are calculated, and provide practical code examples to illustrate their use.