Identifying Categorical and Continuous Variables
In general, variables and data represent groups of things about categorical or discrete characteristics, or they represent measurements on a continuous scale. Examples of categorical variables are a person's occupation or the number of inquiries made for borrowers over the last 5 months. Examples of continuous variables are a person's income or the daily temperature of the ocean.
The following table describes how
Xpress Insight identifies categorical and continuous variables.
| Variable Type | Identification Criteria |
|---|---|
| Categorical - Numeric |
Numeric variables with 10 or fewer unique values |
| Categorical - String |
All string variables |
| Continuous |
Numeric variables with more than 10 unique values |
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Note For numeric variables, any non-numeric value, such as a dollar sign ($), causes the variable to be interpreted as a string variable—a single period is valid within a numeric value, but two or more periods would cause the value to be interpreted as a string.
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