Is age a discrete or continuous variable? Why?

1 Answer
S.S
Jan 25, 2017

Discrete if measured in a number of years, minutes, seconds. However it would be continuous if measured to an exact amount of time passed since the start of something.

Explanation:

Age is measured in units that, if precise enough, could be any number. Therefore the set they come from is infinite. For example, someone could be #22.32698457# years old or #22.32698459# years old. We could be infinitly accurate and use an infinite number of decimal places, therefore making age continuous.

However, in everyday appliances, all values under #6# years and above #5# years are called #5# years old. So we use age usually as a discrete variable.

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