To monitor campus security, the campus police office is taking a survey of the number of students in a parking lot each 30 minutes of a 24-hour period with the goal of determining when patrols of the lot would serve the most students. If X is the number of students in the lot each period of time, then X is an example of
A) a categorical random variable.
B) a statistic.
C) a discrete random variable.
D) a continuous random variable.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

X is a count of the number of students, which is a discrete variable because it can only take on whole number values. It is also a random variable because its value is subject to chance variability. It is not a categorical variable because it is not a label or a category, and it is not a statistic because it is not a summary of a sample of data.

To Monitor Campus Security, the Campus Police Office Is Taking