what is a variable in statistics

In statistics, a variable is any characteristic, number, or quantity that can be measured or counted. It can also be referred to as a data item. Variables can be classified into different types, such as categorical and numeric variables. Categorical variables refer to characteristics that can't be quantified, and they can be nominal or ordinal. On the other hand, numeric variables are quantifiable characteristics whose values are numbers, and they can be discrete or continuous. Discrete variables can only assume a finite number of real values within a given interval, while continuous variables can take on an infinite number of values. Variables play different roles in an experiment, such as independent variables, which are manipulated by the researcher, and dependent variables, which are observed and measured for the effects of the independent variable. In statistics, most of the data analyzed are random variables, which can represent categorical, discrete, and continuous data