By: Oliver Linley
Ollie lives in Cape Town, South Africa, and is passionate about all things data - and all things Tableau! If you have a question, feel free to reach out to him directly via email.
Do you know the difference between measures and dimensions in Tableau? How about discrete and continuous fields? These are common points of confusion for Tableau Desktop users. Knowing the difference allows you greater control and customization as you leverage fields for visualization in Tableau. In this video, we review what you need to know to use discrete and continuous fields to build the visuals you want to see!
For a quick recap:
Dimensions
Dimensions are qualitative fields containing descriptive information such as dates, geographic fields, string fields, and IDs (e.g. row IDs, shipping IDs etc). Dimensions are automatically categorized as discrete fields.
Measures
Measures are quantitative fields, or the actual numbers we’re measuring. These are the numeric fields you are looking to SUM, AVG, multiply, etc. Measures are automatically categorized as continuous fields.
Discrete Fields
Discrete fields allow us to slice up our data into individual, distinct, or unique parts. When we use discrete fields, Tableau generates headers and labels.
Continuous Fields
Continuous fields allow us to view our data as a continuous whole. When we use continuous fields, Tableau generates axes.