The Measurement Errors Calculation

It is vital to calculate the errors in science and engineering. There are three main types of errors
we calculate for,

Absolute Error

Absolute error is a measure of how far 'off' a measurement is from a true value or an indication
of the uncertainty in a measurement. For example, if you measure the width of a book using a
ruler with millimeter marks, the best you can do is measure the width of the book to the nearest
millimeter. You measure the book and find it to be 75 mm. You report the absolute error in the
measurement as 75 mm +/- 1 mm. The absolute error is 1 mm. Note that absolute error is
reported in the same units as the measurement
Absolute Error = Actual Value - Measured Value

Relative Error

Relative error expresses how large the absolute error is compared with the total size of the object
you are measuring. So you first need to determine absolute error to calculate relative error.

Relative error is expressed as a fraction or is multiplied by 100 and expressed as a percent.

Relative Error = Absolute Error / Known Value

For example, a driver's speedometer says his car is going 60 miles per hour (mph) when it's
actually going 62 mph. The absolute error of his speedometer is 62 mph - 60 mph = 2 mph. The
relative error of the measurement is 2 mph / 60 mph = 0.033

Percent Error

Percent error is expresses as a percentage the difference between an approximate or measured

value and an exact or known value. For many applications, percent error is always expressed as a
positive value.
|𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 − 𝑬𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆|
Percentage Error = 𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟎%
|𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞|
Example1: A thermometer measures to the nearest 2 degrees. The temperature was
measured as 38° C

The temperature could be up to 1° either side of 38° (i.e. between 37° and 39°)

Temperature = 38 ±1°

So: Absolute Error = 1°

And: Relative Error = 1°/38° = 0.0263...

And: Percentage Error = 2.63...%

Example 2:
When the diameter of a wire is measured using a screw gauge, the
successive readings are found to be 1.10 mm, 1.12 mm, 1.14 mm, 1.08
mm, 1.16mm and 1.17mm. Calculate the absolute errors and the relative
error in the measurement.