Which of the following is a discrete random variable?

Question

a,weight of a dog measured in ounces

b,total time a dog sleeps in a day

c,height a cat can jump measured in centimeters

d, number of times a dog fetches a ball in 5 minutes

Answer 1

discrete variables - means you can count (finite or countably infinite) the number of possible outcomes. examples:

1. number of heads in 10 tosses of a coin (finite-- could be 0,1,2,...,10)

2.number of times you roll a die until you get a "6" (countably infinite-- could be 0,1,2,3,... no limit )

continuous variables - typically need a measuring scale, has uncountably infinite possible values examples:

height, weight, temperature

Note: you will need a measuring scale to obtain a value from the variables above (measuring tape, weighing scale, thermometer)

Hope this helps.