How Data are Classified: Numerical Data

Data that are countable or measurable in specific units are called numerical data or quantitative data.

For example, one can count the number of children to a couple or calculate how many liters of milk a cow produces in a month.

If one carefully observes, data on the number of children to a couple is a finite number that could be 1, 2, or even 5. Such quantitative data with finite measures or countable numbers is called discrete data. Another example is the number of fish in a pond.

Conversely, quantitative data, which can take up infinite value over a continuous span, including decimals or fractions, are called continuous data.

In the previous example, the cow may have produced 54.8, 75.5, or 99.56 liters in a month, a continuous range of values between 0 to 100.