1.

3 Accuracy, Precision, and Error in Measurements

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

- Carveth Read
- Galileo Galilei

1.3.1 Accuracy, Precision, Uncertainties, and Error

When scientists take measurements, they generally have two goals—accuracy and
precision. However, most people often tend to confuse these two ideas, and several of the
definitions out there aren’t entirely clear.

 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; also the reliability or reproducibility
of the result.

To understand the difference between accuracy and precision, consider a target shown
in Figure 1 below, where the measurements are arrows being shot into the target. Accuracy
describes how close to the center of the target the arrows have landed. The arrows closer to the
bulls-eye are more accurate. Precision, however, denotes how close in relation to one another
the arrows have landed in the target. If all arrows are close together, the bunch is precise as all
of the arrows are gathered at (nearly) the same spot. This spot is not necessarily close to the
bulls-eye, i.e. the shooting was precise, but not accurate.

Figure 1: An Illustration of Accuracy vs. Precision

Image taken from https://www.geavis.si/en/2017/06/difference-between-accuracy-and-precision/

 Unfortunately, measurement is never 100% precise or accurate, so the true value
measure of something is never exactly known. This uncertainty is a result of error. Error is a
concept that is naturally associated with measuring because measurement is always a
comparison to a standard. Measuring something manually always involves uncertainty because
it is based on judgment. If two people use a ruler to measure how long a human thumb is, it
may look like 3 inches to one person and 2 inches to the other.

There are two main types of error—random error and systematic error. Random error is
not controllable. As the name suggests, the occurrence of random errors is random and due to
chance. Alternatively, systematic errors are controllable and have a known cause. A systematic
error can result from many things, such as instrument error, method error, or human error.
Systematic errors can usually be identified and reduced or even eliminated.

When making measurements, we generally assume that some exact or true value exists
based on how we define what is being measured. Such exact value may be derived from a
“textbook”, which is usually well-known since it is used as the basis of an ideal measurement of
an object. Other times we know a theoretical value, which is calculated from basic principles,
and this also may be taken as an "ideal" value.

The most common way to show the range of values that we believe includes the true
value is

Measurement = (best estimate uncertainty) units

Note 1: As far as taking measurements of an object can go, remember to always round off the best
measured value to the same decimal place as the uncertainty.

Note 2: There are many ways to measure an uncertainty. The most common way is to take the
uncertainty to be half of the smallest division of your measuring device. For example, if your meter stick
has tick-marks every 0.01 m, then your uncertainty is .

Example 1. A measurement of 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. The uncertainty
(which is ± 0.02 g) is the experimenter's best estimate of how far an experimental quantity might
be from the "true value."

1.3.2 Estimating Uncertainty for a Single Measurement

Quantitatively, precision is often reported by using “relative or fractional uncertainty”,

with formula given below:

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 On the other note, accuracy is reported quantitatively by using “relative error”, with
formula given below:

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Example 2. Suppose that the diameter of a tennis ball is . Compute the relative
uncertainty and the relative error of the measurement if the ideal diameter of a tennis ball is
.

Solution:

The measured value and the uncertainty of the diameter’s length of the tennis ball are
6.7 cm and 0.2 cm, respectively. Thus, and .

Moreover, its expected value is given by 6.8 cm. Thus, .

With the given information above, its relative uncertainty and relative error are
computed as follows:

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Relative Uncertainty: | | Relative Error:

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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.
1.3.3 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. As a result, it can give us a
better idea concerning the sense of uncertainty in the measurement.

For repeated measurement, the best estimate of the “true” or “expected” value is the
“AVERAGE” or “MEAN”.
∑
̅

The uncertainty, on the other note, associated with the average value is the standard
error (also called standard deviation of the mean).

∑ ̅
̅ √
√ √

In connection to the formulas above, the range of values believed to have included the
“true” value is given by:
̅ ̅

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

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.
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 .
Solution:

From the given problem, the expected or true width of the piece of paper is 31.20 cm.
Thus, .

a) Mean Width of the Piece of Paper:

∑
̅

b) Standard Error of the Width of the Piece of Paper:

∑ ̅
̅ √

̅ √

c) Estimated Width of the Piece of Paper:

̅ ̅

Thus, result above indicates that the true or ideal width of the piece of paper lies
between or and or .

d) Relative Uncertainty and Relative Error of the Width:

Relative Uncertainty: Relative Error:

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| ̅̅ |
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Try this! The volume of a Rubik’s cube is measured four times and these are the observed
measures (in cubic inches): , , , .

(a) Estimate the volume of the Rubik’s cube by expressing it in the form
.
(b) Determine the relative uncertainty and the relative error of the measurement, if the
expected volume is 11.5 in3.