Suppose a hospital emergency room records the number of patients arriving each hour over a week. Which type of variable best describes the $number$ of patients arriving per hour?

• A. Discrete quantitative variable
• B. Ordinal variable
• C. Qualitative variable
• D. Continuous quantitative variable

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the types of variables. Variables can be qualitative (categorical) or quantitative (numerical). Quantitative variables can be further divided into discrete and continuous variables.
2. Step 2: Define discrete quantitative variables. These are numerical variables that take on countable values, often integers, such as the number of patients arriving per hour.
3. Step 3: Define continuous quantitative variables. These variables can take any value within a range, including decimals, such as height or weight measurements.
4. Step 4: Analyze the problem context. The number of patients arriving per hour is a count of individuals, which can only be whole numbers (0, 1, 2, ...), so it is countable and discrete.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the variable describing the number of patients arriving per hour is a discrete quantitative variable because it counts distinct, separate values.