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Applied Mathematics · Ch 10 — Descriptive Statistics

Nominal Scale

10.3.1

Nominal Scale

The nominal scale is the most basic level of measurement, where data are simply names or labels with no inherent order or numerical value. Think of it as putting things into categories—like classifying students by their favorite subject or the city they live in. The only mathematical operation that makes sense here is counting how many items fall into each category, so we work with frequencies and modes. This scale forms the foundation for all oth …