Question

What do the terms nominal, ordinal, ratio, interval, discrete and continuous mean and refer to?

Answer 1

Hint: To solve this question we will discuss the definitions of nominal, ordinal, ratio, interval, discrete and continuous one by one. All the terms are related to statistics so we will elaborate the terms with reference to statistics to get the desired answer.

Complete step by step solution:
As we know that the given terms are topics of statistics. Statistics is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, presentation and interpretation of data.
Now, let us discuss the terms one by one. Then we will get
Nominal – A nominal data also known as nominal scale is a type of data which is used to only label variables. Nominal data cannot be ordered or measured. For example classification of gender, pin code, blood group etc.
Ordinal – And ordinal data is a type of data which is categorized and ordered in nature. For example education level, income level etc.
Ratio – A ratio scale in statistics is a quantitative scale where there is a zero means total absence of variables we are measuring and equal intervals between the data. For example flow rate, pulse rate, weight, length etc.
Interval – An interval is an ordered data and has the same difference between the two values. For example credits score, pH value etc.
Discrete – The value of the discrete variable is obtained by counting. Discrete variable has numeric values. For example, the number of people in the train, number of patients in hospital etc.
Continuous – The value of the continuous variable is obtained by measuring. Continuous variable can take any value as it has an interval. For example height, weight, temperature etc.
Hence above is the meaning of all the terms and all the terms related to statistics.

Note: Statistics is the branch of mathematics which provides the exact description of data. Statistics is also useful in consumer goods products. Statistics is useful in making comparisons, formulation and testing of hypotheses , forecasting etc.