Question 1115318: I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP THIS IS A BIG TEST AND I'M SO CONFUSED!! THANKS
Determine whether the value given below is from a discrete or continuous data set.
In an election poll comma Heather received 17,155,290 votes.
Choose the correct answer below.
A.The data set is neither continuous nor discrete.
B.A continuous data set because there are infinitely many possible values and those values cannot be counted.
C.A discrete data set because there are a finite number of possible values
D.A continuous data set because there are infinitely many possible values and those values can be counted.
Answer by Theo(13342)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! here's a definition that might help.
https://www.mathsisfun.com/data/data-discrete-continuous.html
by that definition, your data is discrete.
there are only a finite number of possible values.
the difference between any of the finite values is not infinite.
consider:
even if heather received all the votes in the world, that is still a finite number.
the difference betweena any values in the data set is not infinite.
example:
the difference between 1 voter and 100 voters is 99 voters.
you cannot sub-divide the difference into infinite parts, like the diference3 between 1 inch and 2 inches.
i'd go with selection C.
here's another reference.
http://www.k5learning.com/blog/what-difference-between-discrete-and-continuous-data
keep in mind that, if you have a continuoous data set, such as inches, and you restrict the data set to a countable subset, then that subset of the continuous data set becomes discrete.
for example:
the number of quarter inches between 2 inches and 3 inches.
that becomes countable and is equal to 4.
the first quarter inch is between 2 and 2 and 1/4.
the second quarter inch is between 2 and 1/4 and 2 and 1/2.
the third quarter inch is between 2 and 1/2 and 2 and 3/4.
the fourth quarter inch is between 2 and 3/4 and 3.
if you do not resrict the elements of the data set to some countable subset, then that set is infinite.
the difference between 2 inches and 3 inches, can be any number.
it ban be 4 * .25 of an inch.
it can be 10 * .10 of an inch.
it can be 100 * .01 of an inch.
it can be 1000 * .001 of an inche.
etc., on into infinity.
that data set has an infinite number of elements, because each element can be divided an infinite number of times.
your data set is number of people and there are not an infinite number of people and each person cannot be sub-divided into parts of a person.
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