discrete
Continuous.Continuous.Continuous.Continuous.
A heart rate is typically considered a dependent variable in experiments where it is measured in response to changes in another variable, such as exercise intensity or stress levels. In such cases, the heart rate changes based on the influence of the independent variable. However, if heart rate is the variable being manipulated or controlled, it would be the independent variable in that context.
Time is the independent variable.
pulse rate in legs
Technically it is a discrete variable since you can earn 10.05 or 10.06 (or whatever the appropriate rate is in your environment) but not anything between those numbers.
An independent variable is the variable you have control over, what you can choose and manipulate. It is usually what you think will affect the dependent variable. In some cases, you may not be able to manipulate the independent variable. It may be something that is already there and is fixed, something you would like to evaluate with respect to how it affects something else, the dependent variable like color, kind, time. Example: You are interested in how stress affects heart rate in humans. Your independent variable would be the stress and the dependent variable would be the heart rate. You can directly manipulate stress levels in your human subjects and measure how those stress levels change heart rate.
If by birth rate you mean the number of births during a given period of time then the answer is yes. The rate may be further qualified, for example, as the number per 1000 women of childbearing age but that does not alter the nature of the variable. If, however, by birth rate you mean the number of births WITHOUT the time element, the measure becomes discrete.
While in general, the larger the animal the lower/slower the heart rate, large whales have a variable heart rate between 10- 30 beats per minute. Humpbacks lower their metabolism and heart rate when they dive to conserve oxygen. The rate rises as they themselves rise again to the surface.
In signal processing, the step of acquiring values of an analog signal at constant or variable rate is called sampling. This process involves measuring the amplitude of the analog signal at discrete intervals, which converts the continuous signal into a discrete signal. The sampling rate determines how frequently the signal is sampled, impacting the fidelity and quality of the reconstructed signal. Proper sampling techniques are essential to avoid issues like aliasing.
The Variable Rate is the rate at which a number changes
A dependent variable is what you measure in the experiment and what is affected during the experiment. The dependent variable responds to the independent variable. It is called dependent because it "depends" on the independent variable. In a scientific experiment, you cannot have a dependent variable without an independent variable. Example: You are interested in how stress affects heart rate in humans. Your independent variable would be the stress and the dependent variable would be the heart rate. You can directly manipulate stress levels in your human subjects and measure how those stress levels change heart rate.