Discrete and Continuous Random Variables:

A variable is a quantity whose value changes.

A discrete variable is a variable whose value is obtained by counting.

Examples: number of students present

number of red marbles in a jar
number of heads when flipping three coins
students’ grade level

A continuous variable is a variable whose value is obtained by measuring.

Examples: height of students in class

weight of students in class
time it takes to get to school
distance traveled between classes
Continuous Variables can meaningfully have an infinite number of possible values,
limited only by your resolution and the range on which they're defined:

 Distance: 1.74m
 Time: 12.3s
 Mass: 4.1kg
 Approval: 61.2%
 Probability: 0.12
Discrete Variables can meaningfully have only specific values:

 Number of coin flips: 4. (It can't meaningfully be 4.3)

 Number of books published: 2. (It can't meaningfully be 2.1)
 Distance walked, rounded to the nearest kilometer: 3 (We rounded it, so it can't
be 3.2)
Categories (or dummy variables) also are generally discrete:

 Gender (Male/Female, or maybe Male/Female/Other)

 Political Party (Democrat/Republican/Libertarian/etc)
Examples of Discrete Random Variables

The following are examples of discrete random variables:

 The number of cars sold by a car dealer in one month

 The number of students who were protesting the tuition increase last semester
 The number of applicants who have applied for a vacant position at a company
 The number of typographical errors in a rough draft of a book
For each of these, if the variable is X, then x=0,1,2,3,…. Note that X can become very
large. (In statistics, when we are talking about the random variable itself, we write the
variable in uppercase, and when we are talking about the values of the random variable,
we write the variable in lowercase.)

Examples of Continuous Random Variables

The following are examples of continuous random variables:

 The length of time it takes a truck driver to go from Mumbai to Delhi

 The depth of drilling to find oil
 The weight of a truck in a truck-weighing station
 The amount of water in a 12-ounce bottle
For each of these, if the variable is X, then x>0 and less than some maximum value
possible, but it can take on any value within this range.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Variables

Variables can be classified as qualitative (aka, categorical) or quantitative (aka, numeric).

  Qualitative. Qualitative variables take on values that are names or labels. The color of a ball (e.g.,
red, green, blue) or the breed of a dog (e.g., collie, shepherd, terrier) would be examples of
qualitative or categorical variables.
 Quantitative. Quantitative variables are numeric. They represent a measurable quantity. For
example, when we speak of the population of a city, we are talking about the number of people in
the city - a measurable attribute of the city. Therefore, population would be a quantitative
variable.

Nominal

Ordinal

Interval

Interval scales provide information about order, and also possess equal intervals. From the
previous example, if we knew that the distance between 1 and 2 was the same as that
between 7 and 8 on our 10-point rating scale, then we would have an interval scale. An
example of an interval scale is temperature, either measured on a Fahrenheit or Celsius
scale. A degree represents the same underlying amount of heat, regardless of where it
occurs on the scale. Measured in Fahrenheit units, the difference between a temperature of
46 and 42 is the same as the difference between 72 and 68. Equal-interval scales of
measurement can be devised for opinions and attitudes. Constructing them involves an
understanding of mathematical and statistical principles beyond those covered in this
course. But it is important to understand the different levels of measurement when using
and interpreting scales.

Examples:
TIME OF DAY on a 12-hour clock
 POLITICAL ORIENTATION: Score on standardized scale of political orientation
OTHER scales constructed so as to possess equal intervals

Interval time of day - equal intervals; analog (12-hr.) clock, difference between 1 and 2 pm is same
as difference between 11 and 12 am

Ratio

In addition to possessing the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval scales, a ratio scale
has an absolute zero (a point where none of the quality being measured exists). Using a
ratio scale permits comparisons such as being twice as high, or one-half as much. Reaction
time (how long it takes to respond to a signal of some sort) uses a ratio scale of
measurement -- time. Although an individual's reaction time is always greater than zero, we
conceptualize a zero point in time, and can state that a response of 24 milliseconds is twice
as fast as a response time of 48 milliseconds.

Examples:
RULER: inches or centimeters YEARS of work experience
INCOME: money earned last year NUMBER of children
GPA: grade point average

Ratio - 24-hr. time has an absolute 0 (midnight); 14 o'clock is twice as long from midnight
as 7 o'clock

9. Find

PROBLEM 2 : Evaluate
(The above step is nothing more than changing the order and grouping of the original
summation.)

(Placing 3 in front of the second summation is simply factoring 3 from each term in
the summation. Now apply Rule 1 to the first summation and Rule 2 to the second
summation.)

= 400 + 15,150

= 15,550 .

PROBLEM 7 : Evaluate .

(The summations must begin with i=1 in order to use the given formulas.)

= 10,497,600 - 2025 + 173,880 - 285

= 10,669,170 .