Week 5 Presentation of continuous data

Introduction

In Week 2, we discussed the key difference between discrete and continuous data, which is that a discrete quantity has an ‘exact’ value, and a continuous quantity can never be ‘exact’ since you could always measure it more or less precisely. Given that much of the information we collect is measured, and therefore continuous, it is important for learners to be confident in working with this data. In Week 4 you looked at pictorial representations best suited to discrete data sets; here you will look at ways of presenting continuous data. [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

I wonder if you checked the weather forecast today. Much of the data associated with weather is continuous; temperature, amount of rainfall, wind speed and air pressure are all examples. Weather stations regularly collect data about the atmosphere around them; if you work in a school, you may even have a weather station on the school roof.

School weather station image such as this

The use of weather data provides the opportunity to link with other subjects and topics such as geography, science, climate change and the environment. The Met Office is the UK’s national meteorological service founded in 1854, and they provide the general public with access to large amounts of data about the weather and conditions around us.