An international relations professor is supervising four master's students. Information about the students is summarized in the table. Identify the variables and determine whether each variable is numerical or categorical.
| Student Name | Student Number | Area of Interest | GPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anna | 914589205 | Africa | 3.11 |
| Pierre | 981672835 | Middle East | 3.23 |
| Juan | 900539012 | Latin America | 3.83 |
| Yela | 977530271 | Asia | 3.53 |
A. Student number: categorical; area of interest: categorical; GPA: numerical
B. Student number: categorical; area of interest: categorical; GPA: categorical
C. Student number: numerical; area of interest: categorical; GPA: numerical
D. Student number: numerical; area of interest: categorical; GPA: categorical
Answer (2)
The variables from the table consist of Student Number and Area of Interest as categorical variables, while GPA is a numerical variable. Therefore, the correct answer is A: Student number: categorical; area of interest: categorical; GPA: numerical.
;
Student Number: Categorical.
Area of Interest: Categorical.
GPA: Numerical.
Correct answer: \boxed{A}
Explanation
Understand the problem and provided data We have a table summarizing information about four master's students. The table includes the following variables for each student: Student Name, Student Number, Area of Interest, and GPA. We need to identify the type of each variable (numerical or categorical).
Analyze Student Name Student Name: This is a categorical variable as it represents names.
Analyze Student Number Student Number: This is a categorical variable because although it consists of numbers, it is used for identification and not for mathematical operations.
Analyze Area of Interest Area of Interest: This is a categorical variable as it represents different areas of study.
Analyze GPA GPA: This is a numerical variable as it represents a numerical grade point average that can be used in calculations.
Determine the correct answer Based on the analysis:
Student Number: Categorical
Area of Interest: Categorical
GPA: Numerical
Therefore, the correct answer is A.
Examples
Understanding variable types is crucial in data analysis. For instance, if you were analyzing student performance, you'd treat GPA as numerical data to calculate averages and identify trends. Student numbers, while numeric, serve as labels and are treated as categorical data, useful for distinguishing individual students but not for calculations.
