1. Continous Data is the opposite of Discrete Data. The data that can take any value within a range. For example: People's heights could be any value within the range of human heights, not just certain fixed heights.
2. This data is called continuous because the scale of measurement has meaning at all points between the numbers given. Continuous data can be shown on a number line, and all points on the line have meaning and are different, but with discrete data only certain values have meaning.
1.https://www.mathsisfun.com/definitions/continuous-data.html (1.); http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/statistics/representingdata3hirev1.shtml (2.)