Temporal Classification

Temporal classification uses time as the classifying variable, so the data are grouped according to when they occur. The time unit may be an hour, a day, a week, a month or a year.

For example, the yearly sales of a tea shop recorded for each year from 1995 to 2000 form a temporal classification: the classifying characteristic (sales) is arranged along a scale of time, one figure per year. Such classification is what makes it possible to study how a quantity changes over successive periods.