Is Height A Discrete Variable

Mayhap 1 of the simplest merely toughest questions for my intro (and graduate) stats students seems to be those asking to classify a variable as discrete or continuous.

My quick rule of thumb (heuristic) is to retrieve about whether the variable is countable or whether it must be measured. I tried to come up with a mnemonic like "population-parameter; sample: statistic" only the best I could do is "finger : digit: discrete" since you have to count your fingers.

Dogs, cats, people, houses, touchdowns, are countable, so they are discrete variables. And we do not often recollect of dividing a canis familiaris or firm into parts, e.yard. 1.half-dozen dogs, and then again that sounds like they are discrete.

Things we measure out are Continuous

A person's weight, gallons of h2o, the length of a football field, the speed of a automobile, the temperature of the ocean, toll of gas, all must exist measured, and then they are continuous variables. Another clue is that continuous variables are often stated as fractions or decimals, as in 2.v gallons of gas.

But then there are some things that are not so obvious. Take the height of buildings. Most ordinarily, nosotros in America tend to think of buildings in terms of the number of floors. I can remember when the Empire State Building was the tallest edifice in the earth and u.s.a. kids could rapidly tell you it had 102 floors. Floors are countable, and so that would brand the pinnacle of a building detached, correct?

Well, in many other places, buildings are measured. In fact, if yous Google the meridian of the Empire Land Building, you would find it is 443.2 meters tall if you lot include the antenna, which almost edifice owners practice so they can brag a bit more. Well, that sounds like someone had to really measure the height, doesn't it, so that ways edifice height is really a continuous variable. And, of course, we all have to measure our own height as well.

Fourth dimension is Continuous

Another confusing variable is time. We tend to retrieve of fourth dimension as the number of years we take lived, or the days until Christmas, which nosotros can count. Only when I was a footling kid, I always answered "six and a half" when asked how erstwhile I was. So, that was a inkling that time could be divided into smaller pieces, which would hateful time is not really a discrete variable.

And today, we no longer count the number of moons that have passed. Nosotros measure time using very authentic devices. If you desire a fleck of distraction, check out this page showing a timeline of our universe.

I practise hope your statistics instructors practice non put purposefully disruptive questions on quizzes and exams about time. But if they practise, you lot are now armed to be able to persuade them your answer that time is a continuous variable is correct.

Unless your instructor is also a particle physicist. So, they are likely to tell you time is both discrete and continuous.

Is Height A Discrete Variable,

Source: https://www.drdawnwright.com/discrete-or-continuous/

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