Here is the way I understand it.
Top 10 items:
The values are evalued from the top down until 10 (with a caveat) cells have been evaluated. The highest value is evaluated to find how many cells have that value. If 10 or more, that is the only value that matches the conditional formatting, and all cells with that value are highlighted. (The caveat: If more than 10 cells have that value, all are highlighted; thus, there can be more than 10 highlighted cells). If there are less than 10 cells with the highest value, the next highest is evaluated with the same rules. This continues until 10 (or more; e.g. caveat) cells are found.
Top 10% items:
The percentage is not the top 10% of the values of the cells. It is instead the top number of cells that equals 10% (rounded down) of the total number of cells in the range. For example, if there are 50 cells, this rule will highlight the top 5 cells. If there are 89 cells, this will highlight the top 8 cells. This number of cells is evaluated the same way as above (e.g., top value is evaluated, then next highest, etc.) until the 10% of cells are found.
This first data set below is formatted to show the top 10 items. The 6 highest values are on the right, and 11 cells are highlighted; this is because the last value "87" has 3 cells. Without "87", there would only be 8 cells highlighted, so the formatting moves to the next value, "87", to evaluate it.
Book1 |
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| G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
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1 | 87 | 84 | 16 | 60 | 5 | | Highest values |
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2 | 32 | 19 | 82 | 85 | 86 | | 98 |
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3 | 80 | 80 | 88 | 5 | 49 | | 96 |
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4 | 14 | 58 | 45 | 96 | 17 | | 94 |
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5 | 73 | 39 | 18 | 79 | 71 | | 92 |
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6 | 18 | 87 | 94 | 70 | 24 | | 88 |
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7 | 51 | 57 | 88 | 36 | 66 | | 87 |
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8 | 7 | 64 | 8 | 65 | 88 | | |
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9 | 87 | 37 | 19 | 43 | 92 | | |
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10 | 88 | 10 | 33 | 71 | 98 | | |
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This second data set below is identical but formatted to show the top 10% items. Since there are 50 cells, the top 5 are highlighted (or would be except for the last value needed, "88", has 4 cells).
Book1 |
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| G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
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13 | 87 | 84 | 16 | 60 | 5 | | Highest values |
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14 | 32 | 19 | 82 | 85 | 86 | | 98 |
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15 | 80 | 80 | 88 | 5 | 49 | | 96 |
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16 | 14 | 58 | 45 | 96 | 17 | | 94 |
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17 | 73 | 39 | 18 | 79 | 71 | | 92 |
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18 | 18 | 87 | 94 | 70 | 24 | | 88 |
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19 | 51 | 57 | 88 | 36 | 66 | | |
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20 | 7 | 64 | 8 | 65 | 88 | | |
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21 | 87 | 37 | 19 | 43 | 92 | | |
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22 | 88 | 10 | 33 | 71 | 98 | | |
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