Final answer:
The distance a baseball travels after being hit is a continuous random variable because the distance is measured and can take on any value within a range, not just discrete increments.
Step-by-step explanation:
The distance a baseball travels after being hit would represent a continuous random variable. This is because the distance can be any value within a range and is not restricted to countable increments. Just as temperature and height are measured in degrees and inches respectively, the distance of a baseball is measured in feet or meters, depending on the unit of measurement used. These measurements can have fractional parts and are not merely counted but measured to determine the value.
To provide a further understanding using mathematical definitions:
a. Define the random variable. X = the distance a baseball travels after being hit
b. X~ (the representation of the distribution of the random variable X for continuous data)
c. Graph the probability distribution. (This would be a curve representing the continuous data)
d. The distribution is continuous.