What type of data is typically represented in a histogram?

A histogram is a graphical representation specifically designed to display the distribution of continuous numerical data. It is particularly useful for illustrating the frequency of occurrence of values within certain ranges or intervals, which is a characteristic of interval or ratio data.

Interval data refers to numerical values where the difference between them is meaningful, such as temperature measured in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Ratio data is similar but also has a true zero point, indicating the absence of the quantity being measured, like weight or height. Both types of data can effectively be represented in histograms because they can be divided into bins or intervals to show how often different ranges of values occur.

Nominal data, which categorizes without any intrinsic ordering (such as types of fruits or colors), is better suited for bar charts. Qualitative data, which includes non-numeric categories, also does not lend itself to the continuous representation that histograms provide. Mixed data types could include both qualitative and quantitative data, but histograms focus solely on quantitative data to visualize distributions accurately. Therefore, the most appropriate choice for the type of data typically represented in a histogram is interval or ratio data.