Can you distinguish between discrete and continuous variables in statistics?

Answer 1

Quick way to think about the difference: Discrete variables have to be measured in whole numbers; typically you can't have fractions of discrete variables. Continuous variables can be measured, if desired, to very fine levels of accuracy and are typically not thought of as being measured in whole numbers. Example: How many drinking glasses do you own? Your answer will be a whole number. A fraction of a drinking glass has no meaning, unless you're counting broken glasses. How much water is in that glass? Your answer could be finely measured over any number of different scales, to any number of decimal places. Amount of water would be a continuous variabe in this case. There are various ways to use and measure variables, so it depends on your research need. For example, water might be a discrete variable if you are using 8 ounce sealed bottles of water as your units.