Let’s get into the topic fast. I know, you don’t have time. You have to learn other topics too. Okay! I hear you :)

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/1*X3E3vZQqdsbWk3wDJcBFKg.jpeg)

### CONTINUOUS VARIABLE

A continuous variable can take any values. Think of it like this: If that number in the variable can keep counting, then its a continuous variable.

Ex: Weight of a person: 152.232 Kg, you’re probably thinking, “where am I counting?”. Yes, you are! The weight of the person is actually 152.232211223342211223332112244778899399947777889999888888377747666678788992336677……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Kg

Obviously, those dots aren’t ending anytime soon. Matter of fact, they’re not ending!

Now you see how specifically that variable can “keep counting”? When I say “counting”, I’m referring to those counts after the decimal.

That is an example for continuous variable.

### Can you think of another example?

Did you say Age? “You’re awesome!”. That’s correct! because age keeps counting. Don’t believe me? Install [this and see for yourself](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/motivation/ofdgfpchbidcgncgfpdlpclnpaemakoj?hl=en).

Okay, other examples are time to train a deep neural network, income, cost of electricity, processing power of your brain (what!!??), your energy during night in J, just a quick remainder : J is the S.I unit of Energy.

I mean you know other examples now.

#### ML context : Continuous Variables are used for Regression.

![](https://hackernoon.com/hn-images/1*COOvXJzePQ4hGRKConSpPw.jpeg)

[https://www.slideshare.net/cdhnmj/introduction-to-biostasstics](https://www.slideshare.net/cdhnmj/introduction-to-biostasstics)

### DISCRETE/CATEGORIZED VARIABLE

A Discrete variable can take only a specific value amongst the set of all possible values or in other words, if you don’t keep counting that value, then it is a discrete variable aka categorized variable.

Example: Number of students in a university.

Think about Number of students in a university. Say a university has 75,123 students enrolled. Is that variable continuous?

You might say “yes” because, you’re intelligent. You’d suggest 75,123 is

75,123.000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000………………………………………………………………………………right?

Man! I too had the same thought, but let me tell you this: 75,123.00….=75,123, because, 0 after a decimal point doesn’t come into consideration at all. Haha. Statisticians are very intelligent! :) The point is, if the number is an integer (and obviously an integer doesn’t have decimals) then it is discrete.

### **Other examples:**

The number of deep learning libraries in the market.

The number of GPU’s your regular computer has.

How good is your ML model: Say it only had 2 options {good, bad}. Then it’s a discrete variable.

Level of Agreement {Full, Partial, Not at all}

#### ML context : Discrete Variables are used for Classification.

To end this article let me ask you a question: If a variable A can take only values {22.3,225.69,122.23}, what kind of variable is it? why?

Continuous or Discrete? Don’t tell me “both”!

If you liked this article, then clap it up! :) Maybe a follow?

My social plug:

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakshith-vasudev/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakshith-vasudev/)

[**Rakshith Vasudev**  
_Rakshith Vasudev. Learn Artificial Intelligence with me as we progress to make this world a better place. Tensorflow…_www.facebook.com](https://www.facebook.com/imrakshithvasudev/ "https://www.facebook.com/imrakshithvasudev/")[](https://www.facebook.com/imrakshithvasudev/)

[**Rakshith Vasudev - Medium**  
_Read writing from Rakshith Vasudev on Medium. Software Engineering student catching up with Data Science…_medium.com](https://medium.com/@rakshithvasudev "https://medium.com/@rakshithvasudev")[](https://medium.com/@rakshithvasudev)

[**Rakshith Vasudev**  
_Getting started with Datascience, best programming practices. Topics include Machine Learning and others._www.youtube.com](https://www.youtube.com/c/rakshithvasudev "https://www.youtube.com/c/rakshithvasudev")[](https://www.youtube.com/c/rakshithvasudev)

Facebook

Google

YouTube

Too Long; Didn't Read

Get hands-on learning from ML experts on Coursera 

Continuous vs Discrete Variables in the context of Machine Learning.

Too Long; Didn't Read

Companies Mentioned

@rakshithvasudev

RELATED STORIES