#Point measure discrete code
#Point measure discrete zip

IntervalĪn interval scale is one where there is order and the difference between two values is meaningful. Make more informed and accurate analysis choices with Prism. For example, the difference between the two income levels “less than 50K” and “50K-100K” does not have the same meaning as the difference between the two income levels “50K-100K” and “over 100K”. Note the differences between adjacent categories do not necessarily have the same meaning. Socio economic status (“low income”,”middle income”,”high income”), education level (“high school”,”BS”,”MS”,”PhD”), income level (“less than 50K”, “50K-100K”, “over 100K”), satisfaction rating (“extremely dislike”, “dislike”, “neutral”, “like”, “extremely like”).

#Point measure discrete zip

Genotype, blood type, zip code, gender, race, eye color, political partyĪn ordinal scale is one where the order matters but not the difference between values.

#Point measure discrete code

You can code nominal variables with numbers if you want, but the order is arbitrary and any calculations, such as computing a mean, median, or standard deviation, would be meaningless. Knowing the scale of measurement for a variable is an important aspect in choosing the right statistical analysis.Ī nominal scale describes a variable with categories that do not have a natural order or ranking. These are still widely used today as a way to describe the characteristics of a variable.

And when you get down to 3 decimal points, you can get better equipment and measure down to 4 decimal points, etc, etc.In the 1940s, Stanley Smith Stevens introduced four scales of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. How many hours go by until it is 64.652 degrees? Obviously, 4.652 hours, right? This function is continuous because you can break down both temperature and time into the finest increments that you can measure.

The temperature will increase by 1 degree per hour this morning until noon. Despite the fact that you can measure a basketball players height to very small units (essentially continuous, just requiring better and better measuring equipment), shoe size is available (in the US) in 1/2 sizes (size 10, 10 1/2, 11, 11 1/2, 12, etc). The height of basketball players is roughly linear to their shoe size. So you can spend $2 and get 2 liters, $4 and get 4 liters, etc, but you cannot pay $3.82 to purchase 3.82 liters. Although the unit cost $1 per liter, it is not possible to purchase soda in any other increment than 2 liter bottles. Soda is on sale for $2 for a 2 liter bottle but that is the only size they have available. The number of people is discrete meaning you bring 1, 2, 3, 4, etc to the movies. But it is not possible to take 0.2 people to the movie. How many people get to see the movie? If continuous, it would be 3.2 people. If the function were continuous, then we could say it takes 1.5 buses but there is no such thing as half a bus (at least it couldn't be driven to school. The answer, of course is 2 buses because buses are discrete. Discrete means separate points that you cannot break into 'in between' points.Įxample: There are 36 students how must ride the school bus.