Adjustment computation

Introduction

In ordinary life, most of us are accustomed to counting but not as much to measuring. Surveying is
concerned with measurements of quantities whose exact or true values may not be determined, such as
distances, elevations, volumes directions etc, if a person were to measure the width of his desk with a
ruler divided in to tenths of an inch, he could estimate the width to hundredths of an inch. If he were to
use a ruler graduated in hundredths of an inch, he could estimate the width to thousandths of an inch; and
so on. Obviously, with better equipment he can estimate an answer that is closer to the exact value but
will never be able to determine the value absolutely.

Thus a fundamental principle of surveying is that no measurement is exact and the true value of the
quantity being measured is never known. (Exact or true values do exist, but they cannot be determined).

Necessity for Accurate Surveys

The surveyor must have the skill and judgment necessary to make very accurate measurements. This fact
is obvious when one is thinking in terms of the construction of long bridges tunnels. Tall buildings, and
missile sites or the setting of delicate machinery, but it can be just as important in land surveying. A few
decades ago land prices were not extremely high except in and around the largest cities. If the surveyor
gained or lost a few feet in a lot or a few acres in a farm, it was usually not considered to be a matter of
great importance.

The instruments used for surveying before this century were not very good compared to today’s
equipment, and it was probably impossible for the surveyor to do the quality of work expected of today’s
surveyor. Today, land prices are in most areas very high, and evidently the climb has only begun. In many
areas of high population and in many popular resort areas, land is sold by so many dollars per square foot;
therefore, the surveyor must be able to do splendid work.

Accuracy and Precision

The terms accuracy and precision are constantly used in surveying, yet their correct meanings are a little
difficult to grasp. In an attempt to clarify the distinction, the following definitions are presented:

Accuracy refers to the degree of perfection obtained in measurements. It denotes how close
a given measurement is to the true value of the quantity.

Precision or apparent accuracy is the degree of refinement with which a given quantity is
measured. In other words, it is the closeness of one measurement to another. If a quantity is
measured several times and the values obtained are very close to each other, the precision
is said to be high.

In measuring distance, precision is defined as the ratio of the error of the measurement to the distance
measured and it is reduced to fraction having a numerator of unity.
Example:- If a distance of 4200 ft is measured and the error is later estimated to equal 0.7ft, the precision
of the measurement is 0.7/4200 = 1/6000. This means that for every 6000ft measured, the
error would be one ft, if the work were done with this same degree of precision.

Errors and Mistakes

Surveying deals with the measurement of distance and angles. The true value of such quantities is never
known. The true value of a quantity is never known. The true value of a quantity is a value, which is
absolutely free from all types of errors. The true value cannot be determined because some errors always
creep in the measured quantities. The errors occur because the instrument cannot be absolutely perfect.
Moreover, a surveyor cannot take the observations correctly because of human limitations. Further, a
change in climatic conditions also limits the accuracy of the measurement. A major concern in surveying
is the precision of the work. The ever present difference between measured quantities and the true
magnitude of those quantities are classified here in as either mistakes or errors. A mistake (or blunder) is
a difference from a true value cased by the inattention of the surveyor. For instance, he/she may read a
number as a 6 when it is actually 9, may record the wrong quantities in the field notes, or may add a
column or numbers incorrectly. An error is a difference from a true value caused by the imperfection of
the person’s senses, by the imperfection of his equipment, or by weather effects, Errors can not be
eliminated but they can be minimized by careful work, combined with the application of certain
numerical corrections. The result is that all measurements are imperfect.

Sources of Errors

There are three sources of errors; people, instrument and nature .Accordingly, errors in measurement are
generally said: personal, instrumental, and natural, however, some errors do not clearly fit in to one of
these categories and may be due to a combination of factors.

Personal errors occur due to human limitations, such as sense of sight and touch. For instance, in
estimating the fractional part of a scale, the surveyor can not read it perfectly and will always be
either a little large or a little small.

Instrumental errors occur because instruments can not be manufactured perfectly and the different parts
of instruments can not be adjusted exactly with respect to each other. Moreover, with time the wear
and tear of the instruments causes errors.

Natural errors are caused by changes in natural phenomena, such as temperature, wind, humidity,
refraction, and magnetic field. For example if a tape has been calibrated at 20c, but the field
temperature is 30 c there will be a natural error due to temperature variation.

Types of Errors

In surveying, errors can be broadly classified into the following two types.

1. Systematic or cumulative errors

2. Accidental or random errors
1. Systematic errors: Systematic errors follow some well-defined mathematical or physical law or
system. The magnitude and the sign of the systematic errors can be determined and a suitable
 correction can be applied to the measured quantity. A systematic error will always have the same sign
and magnitude under the same conditions. For example, if a 30m steel tape has been standardized at a
temperature of 20c but the field temperature is 30c the tape will be about 3.5mm too long. This
means when the measured distance is 30m, the actual (real) distance is 30.0035m. There is a
systematic error of -3.5mm in every 30m-tape length.
The systematic errors are cumulative in nature. For example, if in the above case the total distance is
300m (i.e. 10 tape lengths) the total systematic error will be 35mm for a field temperature of 30c.

2. Accidental errors: Accidental errors are random in nature and occur beyond the control of the
surveyor. Random errors do not follow any fixed pattern or law. These errors can be positive or
negative. These errors tend to cancel themselves in a series of measurements, and are, therefore, also
called compensating errors. For instance, when a person reads an angle with a surveying instrument,
he or she can not read it perfectly, one time he or she will read a value that is too large and the next
time will read a value that is too small since these errors are just as likely to have different signs as
the other, they tend to a certain degree to cancel each other or compensate for each other.
Accidental errors occur due to:

 Imperfection in the instruments

 Human limitation or
 Change in atmospheric conditions
Errors, which remain in the measured quantities after mistakes and systematic errors have been eliminated
or corrected, are generally the accidental errors.

Mistakes occur in measurements due to carelessness inattention, inexperience or poor judgment of the
surveyor. For example, if the surveyor reads 13m on a tape as 31m, it would be a mistake.

Definitions The following definitions should be clearly understood.

The standard deviation ( δ )

The standard deviation is defined as

W/r V= variations (Xi -X)

n = number of observations

The standard deviation is also known as the root-mean square (R.M.S) error of a measurement.
The standard deviation is generally used as an indicator to describe the reliability of a set of
repeated measurements. The smaller the value of the standard deviation, the greater the precision
and vise versa.
Most probable error

The most probable error is defined as that error for which there are equal chances that the true error will
be less than the probable error or will be more than the probable error .In other words, the probability of
the true error being less than the probable error is 50% and the probability of the true error being greater
than the probable error is also 50%.This error is also called 50% error, expressed as E50.
Standard error
Is the probability of the error to occur between + δ and - δ it has a percentage of 68.3% this error is
called the standard error. It is also represented as E68.3. In other words, the standard error is the same as
the standard deviation.

The standard error establishes the limits with in which measurements are expected to fall 68.3% of the
time.

Standard error of the mean ( δ m).

The standard error of the mean ( δ m) of a number of observations of the same quantity is given by

It is also known as root- mean - square (R-M-S) error of the mean. The standard error of the mean
indicates that the probability of the mean value to be between + δ m and - δ m is 68.3%.

Example- Measurements of a line were taken ten times with a steel tape and found to be as
under
100.54m 100.56m 100.38m 100.36m 100.39m
100.46m 100.48m 100.32m 100.47m 100.52m
Assuming that the measurements have been corrected for all systematic errors, determine:
1. Standard deviation( δ )
2. Most probable value
3. Standard error of the mean ( δ m)
4. Most probable error

No Measured length Residual (V) V2

(Xi- X) (4)

(1) (2) (3)

1 100.54m + 0.09 8.1X10-3
2 100.56m -0.11 12.1X10-3
3 100.38m -0.07 4.9X10-3
4 100.36m -0.09 8.1X10-3
5 100.39m -0.06 3.6X10-3
6 100.46m +0.01 0.1X10-3
7 100.48m +0.03 0.9X10-3
8 100.32m -0.13 16.9X10-3
9 100.47m +0.02 0.4X10-3
10 100.52m +0.07 4.9X10-3
X=100.448 60.0X10-3
Solution:

2. Most probable value = mean value =

1. Residual (V) = Measured value - mean value
The residuals have been calculated in column (3) the values of V2 are given in column (4)
The standard deviation ( δ )

δ =+
Or

δ =+ = + 0.08m

2. The standard error of the mean, δ m = +

Or δ m = + = + 0.025m
3. Most probable error = + 0.6745 δ = + 0.054m