Yr8 B3.4 Continuous and discontinuous

What is discontinuous variation?

• A characteristic that takes any value within a range

• A characteristic that only results in certain fixed values

• A characteristic that changes over time

Which of the following is an example of discontinuous variation?

• Height

• Blood group

• Body mass

What is continuous variation?

• A characteristic that can only result in two values

• A characteristic influenced only by genes

• A characteristic that can take any value within a range

Which of these is an example of continuous variation?

• Eye colour

• Hair colour

• Arm span

What type of graph should be used to plot discontinuous data?

• Line graph

• Bar chart

• Histogram

What type of graph should be used to plot continuous data?

• Pie chart

• Bar chart

• Histogram

Characteristics that result only from inherited variation usually show:

• Continuous variation

• Discontinuous variation

• No variation

What pattern is usually shown by continuous variation on a graph?

• Sharp peaks at each value

• A smooth bell-shaped curve

• A flat line

Shoe size is an example of:

• Discontinuous variation

• Continuous variation

• No variation

What causes continuous variation?

• Only genetic factors

• Only environmental factors

• Both inherited and environmental factors