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GCSE Biology · key term
Variation in a characteristic that can take many values across a range.
Used by Edexcel and OCR
Specification 3.19 · Paper 1
Variation in which phenotypes form a range between two extremes rather than separate categories.
Revise: Multiple Gene InheritancePolygenic features therefore commonly show continuous variation: individuals can fall anywhere along a range between two extremes, with no sharp boundaries between categories.
Specification B5.1c, B5.1l · Paper 2 (Foundation), Paper 4 (Higher)
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Continuous variation means that a characteristic can take many values across a range. Height is continuous: people are not simply ‘short’ or ‘tall’, because there are many possible heights between those descriptions. Weight is another example.
Variation in which a characteristic can take any value across a range, often because it is influenced by several genes and the environment.