What does discrete data mean in maths?

Answer 1

Discrete - Each recorded data has a particular whole value

e.g. Number of pencils in pencil cases, Number of correct answers in a test

Continuous - The recorded data can have any value in a given range

e.g. Height of students, Time taken to run 100m

Answer 2

The commonly used definition is that discrete data can only take integer values. However, that definition is seriously flawed because it depends on the measurement unit. For example, suppose the data refer to the number of days taken to complete a selection of tasks. The answers are clearly whole numbers.

But now consider what happens if you recode the data to how many weeks. The experiment has not changed but many of the data will have become fractions! Are they no longer discrete data?

A better definition is that discrete data can take only the values defined by some [ordered] set and not any of the values between members of that set.