CHAPTER 1

MEASUREMENT AND ERROR

CONCEPTS
 “It is better to be roughly
right than precisely wrong.“

-Carveth Read
LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION,
AND ERROR IN MEASUREMENT
 Accuracy is the closeness of agreement between a
measured value and a true or accepted value.

 Precision is a measure of how well a result can be

determined (without reference to a theoretical or true
value). It is the degree of consistency and
agreement among independent measurements of the
same quantity.
LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION,
AND ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

ACCURACY DESCRIBES HOW CLOSE FROM THE CENTER OF THE

TARGET THAT THE ARROWS HAVE LANDED.

PRECISION DESCRIBES HOW CLOSE THE ARROWS HAVE LANDED IN

THE TARGET IN RELATION TO ONE ANOTHER.
LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

ERROR AND UNCERTAINTY

Error is a concept that is naturally associated

with measuring because measurement is always
a comparison to a standard.

The error committed in measurement would

then contribute to a notion called uncertainty.
Uncertainty refers to the amount/margin of
doubt that exists about the result of any
measurement.
LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

Uncertainties may be caused by two possible

factors:

1) Random Error – a non-controllable and

unpredictable error, which normally
occurs by chance.

2) Systematic Error – a controllable error,

whose known cause can be detected or
determined – such as human error,
instrument error, or method error.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT
When making measurements, we generally assume
that some exact or true value exists based on how
we define what is being measured.

The most common way to show the range of values

that we believe includes the true value is

Measurement = (best estimate ± uncertainty) units

Illustration. A measurement of (5.07 ± 0.02) g or 5.07

g ± 0.02 g means that the experimenter is confident
that the true value for the quantity being measured
lies between 5.05 g and 5.09 g.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.1: Estimating Uncertainty for a Single

Measurement

Quantitatively, precision is often reported or

determined by using “relative or fractional
uncertainty”, with formula given below:

𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚 (𝑼)

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑼𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒚 (𝑹𝑼) =
𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 (𝑴𝑽)
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.1: Estimating Uncertainty for a Single

Measurement

On the other hand, accuracy is reported or

determined quantitatively by using “relative
error”, with the formula given below:

𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑴𝑽 − 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑬𝑽

𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝑹𝑬 =
𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑬𝑽

𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 (𝑬)
=
𝑬𝑽
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.1: Estimating Uncertainty for a Single

Measurement

Example 1. Suppose that the diameter of a tennis

ball is (6.7 ± 0.2)cm. Compute the relative
uncertainty and the relative error of the
measurement if the ideal diameter of a tennis ball
is 6.8 cm.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.1: Estimating Uncertainty for a Single

Measurement

Try this! The relative uncertainty of the length of

a pen is 0.4%, with a standard uncertainty of 0.03
inches.
(a) Compute the measured length of the pen.
(b) If the relative error of the length is 0.00625,
what is the expected length of the pen?
(c) Determine the estimated length of the pen in
the form (measured value ± uncertainty)
inches.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated

Measurement

To increase the accuracy, and thereby reducing the

error, of the measurement, it is advisable to
measure a certain property of an object more than
once.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated

Measurement

For repeated measurement, the best estimate of

the “true” or “expected” value is the “AVERAGE” or
“MEAN”.

𝒔𝒖𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔

𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒙 =
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

𝒙
= 𝒏
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated

Measurement

The uncertainty, on the other note, associated with

the average value is the standard error (also
called standard deviation of the mean).

𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔 𝒙−𝒙 2

𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝑬𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓 𝝈𝒙 = = =
𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒏 𝒏(𝒏 − 1)
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT
3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated
Measurement

Example 3. Consider measuring the width of a piece of

paper using the meter stick. The width of the paper is
measured at a number of points on the sheet, and the
values are entered in the data table below:
Observation Width (cm)
#1 31.32
#2 31.16
#3 31.24
#4 31.04
#5 31.20
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated

Measurement

Do the following and round off your answers to the

nearest hundredths.

a) Compute the mean width of a piece of paper

based on the observed measures in the data
table.

b) Calculate the standard error of the width of a

piece of paper.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

3.2: Estimating Uncertainty for a Repeated

Measurement

c) Estimate the width of the piece of paper by

expressing it in the form (mean ± standard
error) cm.

d) Determine the relative uncertainty and the

relative error of the measurement if the true
width of the piece of paper is 31.20
centimeters.
 LESSON 3: ACCURACY, PRECISION, AND
ERROR IN MEASUREMENT

Try this! The volume of a Rubik’s cube is

measured four times and these are the observed
measures (in cubic inches): 11.3, 11.2, 11.4, and
11.3.

(a) Estimate the volume of the Rubik’s cube by

expressing it in the form (mean ± standard
error) in3.

(b) Determine the relative uncertainty and the

relative error of the measurement.