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Distribution of A Single Variable

The document discusses different types of variables such as continuous, discrete, categorical, ordinal and nominal variables and provides examples of each. It also discusses populations and samples, how data can be represented through histograms, bar graphs and pie charts, and highlights the key differences between histograms and bar graphs.

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Ashish kumar Thapa
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
26 views

Distribution of A Single Variable

The document discusses different types of variables such as continuous, discrete, categorical, ordinal and nominal variables and provides examples of each. It also discusses populations and samples, how data can be represented through histograms, bar graphs and pie charts, and highlights the key differences between histograms and bar graphs.

Uploaded by

Ashish kumar Thapa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Distribution of a Single

Variable
Variable
A variable is a characteristic that may take on different values at different
times, places or situations. Age, sex, business income and expenses,
country of birth, capital expenditure, class grades, and vehicle type are
examples of variables.

Example income is a variable that can vary between data units in a


population (i.e. the people or businesses being studied may not have the
same incomes) and can also vary over time for each data unit (i.e. income
can go up or down). 
Numeric variables have values that describe a measurable quantity as a number.
Numeric variables are quantitative variables. It can be further divided in two
categories.

Continuous variable can take any value between a certain set of real
numbers. The value given a continuous variable can include values as small as the
instrument of measurement allows. Examples of continuous variables include
height, time, age, and temperature.

Discrete variable can take a value based on a count from a set of distinct whole
values. Examples of discrete variables include the number of registered cars,
number of business locations, and number of children in a family, all of which
measured as whole units (i.e. 1, 2, 3 cars).
Categorical variables have values that describe a 'quality' or 'characteristic' of a
data unit, like 'what type' or 'which category‘ and fall into mutually exclusive and
exhaustive categories and qualitative variables. This is further divide in two
categories

Ordinal variable can take a value that can be logically ordered or ranked. Examples
of ordinal categorical variables include academic grades (i.e. A, B, C), clothing size
(i.e. small, medium, large, extra large) and attitudes (i.e. strongly agree, agree,
disagree, strongly disagree).

Nominal variable can take a value that is not able to be organized in a logical


sequence. Examples of nominal categorical variables include sex, business type, eye
color, religion and brand.
Populations and Samples
A population includes all of the entities of interest in a study (people, households,
machines, etc.)

Examples:

All potential voters in a presidential election

All subscribers to cable television

All invoices submitted for Medicare reimbursement by nursing homes

A sample is a subset of the population, often randomly chosen and preferably


representative of the population as a whole.

Examples: Gallup, Harris, other polls today


A data set is usually a rectangular array of data, with variables in
columns and observations in rows.

An observation (or case or record) is a list of all variable values for a


single member of a population.

A dummy variable or proxy variables is a 0–1 coded variable for a


specific category. It is coded as 1 for all observations in that category
and 0 for all observations not in that category.
Cross-sectional data are data on a cross section of a population at a
distinct point in time.
Time series data are data collected over time.
Representation of Data

Histogram is defined as a type of bar chart that is used to represent statistical


information by way of bars to show the frequency distribution of continuous
data. It indicates the number of observations which lie in-between the range of
values, known as class or bin.

The first step, in the construction of histogram, is to take the observations and
split them into logical series of intervals called bins. X-axis indicates, independent
variables i.e. classes while the y-axis represents dependent variables i.e.
occurrences. Rectangle blocks i.e. bars are depicted on the x-axis, whose area
depends on the classes. 
Bar Graph
A bar graph is a chart that graphically represents the comparison between
categories of data. It displays grouped data by way of parallel rectangular bars of
equal width but varying the length. Each rectangular block indicates specific
category and the length of the bars depends on the values they hold. The bars in
a bar graph are presented in such a way that they do not touch each other, to
indicate elements as separate entities.

Bar diagram can be horizontal or vertical, where a horizontal bar graph is used
to display data varying over space whereas the vertical bar graph represents
time series data. It contains two axis, where one axis represents the categories
and the other axis shows the discrete values of the data.
Key Differences b/w Histogram and Bar graph

Histogram is graphical representation displays data by way of bars to show the


frequency of numerical data while bar graph is a pictorial representation of data
that uses bars to compare different categories of data.

Histogram represents the frequency distribution of continuous variables.


Conversely, a bar graph is a diagrammatic comparison of discrete variables.

The width of rectangular blocks in a histogram may or may not be same while the
width of the bars in a  bar graph is always same.

The histogram is drawn in such a way that there is no gap between the bars. On
the other hand, there is proper spacing between bars in a bar graph that indicates
discontinuity.
Pie Chart
Pie charts are specific types of data presentation where the data is represented in
the form of a circle. In a pie chart, a circle is divided into various sections or
segments such that each sector or segment represents a certain proportion or
percentage of the total.

In such a diagram, the total of all the given items is equated to 360 degrees and
the degrees of angles, representing different items, are calculated
proportionately. The entire diagram looks like a pie and its components resemble
slices cut from a pie. The pie chart is used to show the break-up of one
continuous variable into its component parts.

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