Casey wrote: > Hi, i needed some help in determining if some data i have are discrete > or continuous, i know this sound silly, but if someone can provide the > answer with some relevant proof, it will be much appreciated!!! I have > a string of data that thier values ranges from 0 to 100000 or more, > and values do not occur more than once, it looked discrete in the > first place but when i use a statistic software to fit a distribution, > the result is continuous, same happened when i do it manually using > conventional distribution fitting and testing method methods > (histogram, summary statistics, chi-square test and Kolmogorov-Smirov > test). So are these data discrete? or continuous? Is there other ways > or methods i can test the data? Will anyone please help, thank you for > your time!!
You have to tell us more about what the data represent -- and how the data was obtained. Data that can only take on countably infinite number of values, or a finite number of values, is discrete (although in some situations you may still use a statistical test for continuous data as an approximation). Example: then number of defective units produced by a manufacturing plant is discrete. Anything measured in integers is discrete. Data that can take on an infinite number of values is continuous. For example, inches of rainfall per year at location A is continuous. Although the measuring device will record only 2 decimal places, e.g. 90.87 inches of rain, the true amount can have an infinite number of decimal places, and thus an infinite number of values are possible. -- Paige Miller Eastman Kodak Company paige dot miller at kodak dot com http://www.kodak.com "It's nothing until I call it!" -- Bill Klem, NL Umpire "When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance" -- Lee Ann Womack . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
