Which scale of measurement is represented by the number of candy bars sold?

Which scale of measurement is represented by the number of candy bars sold?

• A. Nominal
• B. Ratio
• C. Ordinal
• D. Interval

Answer: (B)

Counts like the number of candy bars sold are on a ratio scale because they have a true zero and equal intervals. A value of zero means no bars were sold, and you can meaningfully say one amount is twice another (20 bars is twice 10) or compute averages and proportions. These properties—true zero and meaningful multiplicative relationships—allow full arithmetic and ratio comparisons. By contrast, nominal scales only label categories, ordinal scales rank without equal spacing, and interval scales have equal spacing but no true zero (so ratios don’t make sense).

Counts like the number of candy bars sold are on a ratio scale because they have a true zero and equal intervals. A value of zero means no bars were sold, and you can meaningfully say one amount is twice another (20 bars is twice 10) or compute averages and proportions. These properties—true zero and meaningful multiplicative relationships—allow full arithmetic and ratio comparisons. By contrast, nominal scales only label categories, ordinal scales rank without equal spacing, and interval scales have equal spacing but no true zero (so ratios don’t make sense).