Which of the following is a categorical variable?

• A. GPA.
• B. Hours studied.
• C. Academic major.
• D. Age in years.

Answer: (C)

A categorical variable describes quality or group membership rather than a quantity. Academic major names categories such as biology, economics, or history, and these labels don’t carry a natural numeric amount or ordering. The other options measure quantity: GPA is a numeric average on a scale, Hours studied is a numeric amount of time, and Age in years is a numeric count. Those are quantitative variables, not categorical. So the correct choice is Academic major.