Accuracy Precision

Accuracy describes the

Example: Precision is something
difference between the Let’s say the made with exact
measurement and the temperature of measurements. Precision
an object is 60-
part’s actual value, while
is a number that shows
degree celsius.
precision describes the
an amount of the
And
variation you see when you
thermometer is information digits and it
measure the same part
showing 60 expresses the value of
repeatedly with the same degrees for all the number.
device. readings. That Precision = True positives/

Accuracy = (True positives +

means
(True positives + False
thermometer is
True Negatives)/ (True positives) = TP/(TP + FP)
Accurate and
positives + True negatives +
precise.
False positives + False

negatives) = (TP + TN)/ (TP +

TN + FP + FN)
 Random Systematic
error error
An error is considered
An error is considered

random if the value of what

systematic if it consistently

is being measured
changes in the same

sometimes goes up or direction.

sometimes goes down. Example:

Example: The measured distance is

Measuring the mass of a different using a new cloth

sample on an analytical measuring tape versus an

balance may produce older, stretched one.

different values as air currents Proportional errors of this type

affect the balance or as water are called scale factor errors.

enters and leaves the

specimen.
 Percent Percent
Error Difference
Percent error is the
Percentage difference is

difference between
the difference between

estimated value and the

two values divided by their

actual value in comparison average. It is used to

to the actual value and is measure the difference

expressed as a between two related

percentage. values and is expressed as

Percent Error = a percentage.

|Approximate Value − Exact Percentage Difference =

Value||Exact Value| × 100% |First Value − Second

Value(First Value + Second

Value)/2| × 100%
 Percent Percent
Error Difference
Example:
Example:

Another student was

"Best Shirts" gets 200

experimentally determining
customers, and "Cheap Shirts"

the boiling point of water. gets 240 customers:

They reported it to be 99.5° C.

The accepted value for the Solution:

boiling point of water is 100° |240 − 200(200+240)/2| ×

C. What is the percent error? 100% = |40220| × 100% =

18.18...%

Solution:

(|99.5 - 100|) / 100 x 100 =

0.5% error
 Absolute Relative
uncertainty uncertainty
Also known as absolute A chemist measured the Relative uncertainty puts error

error, absolute uncertainty time required for a in measurements into

in a measured quantity is
chemical reaction and perspective. The relative

found the value to be 175 uncertainty or relative error

due to inherent variations in
+/- 0.24 hours. The first
the measurement process formula is used to calculate
step is to find the
itself.
absolute uncertainty: the uncertainty of a

absolute uncertainty = measurement compared to

relative uncertainty 100 × absolute uncertainty the size of the measurement.

measured value
= 0.24 hours relative uncertainty = absolute

relative uncertainty = error / measured value

Example:
Δt / t = 0.24 hours /
relative uncertainty = absolute
If a measurement is recorded
1.75 hours = 0.137
error / known value
to be 1.20 and the true value is

known to be 1.00 then the

absolute error is 1.20 - 1.00 =

0.2.