gcsescience.com                                       5                                       gcsescience.com

How Science Works

Variables.

What is a Variable?

A variable is anything we measure which
can have different numerical values.
Numerical values are just numbers for things.

For example length is a variable which
can have different numbers of metres.
A length can be 1, 2, 4, 50, 800 or any number of metres,
depending on how long it is.

Weight is a variable which can have different numbers of Newtons.
A weight can be 1, 22, 46, 500, 8500 or any number of Newtons,
depending on how heavy it is.

Variables are described as independent, dependent,
continuous,  discrete,  ordered  or  categoric.
A scientific investigation involves a number of experiments.
The experiments look at how the variables relate to each other.
Scientists look for links and relationships
between variables to explain the data.

back       Links       How Science Works       Revision Questions       next

gcsescience.com         Chemistry Index         Physics Index         gcsescience.com

Home      GCSE Chemistry      GCSE Physics

Copyright © 2015 gcsescience.com. All Rights Reserved.