What number of variables does each type of data involve?
See solution.
Practice makes perfect
We want to determine the difference between univariate and bivariate data. To do so, we will look at example data sets of each type.
Univariate Data
When a set of data uses only one variable, it is called univariate. Let's look at some example data that represents the number of hours per day that computer science students spend in front of a computer.
ccccc
8 & 9 & 5 & 13 & 3
10 & 14 & 7 & 6 & 8
This data set involves only one variable — hours per day. Therefore, it is univariate. We can represent the data set using a bar graph.
Keep in mind that this is only one example of this type of data. The following data sets are also univariate.
The atomic numbers of the elements in the periodic table
The house numbers of your friends and family
The side lengths of squares
Bivariate Data
A data set is considered bivariate when it uses two variables. Once again, let's consider the number of hours per day that computer science students spend in front of a computer. This time, we will also consider the number of hours the students spend programming.
Hours Spent
In Front of a Computer
Programming
8
6
9
4
5
5
13
2
3
3
10
8
14
10
7
5
6
4
8
0
Now the data set involves two variables. Therefore, it is bivariate. This type of data usually shows the relationship between two variables. To visualize the relationship between two variables, we can plot ordered pairs of the data on a scatter plot.
The following data sets are also examples of bivariate data sets.
The radii and surface areas of spheres
The ages and heights of your friends
The sales of ice cream and the average temperature on any given day
Differences
Finally, we can conclude the differences between univariate and bivariate data.
