MEASUREMENT: M1.

1 – PRACTICALITIES OF MEASUREMENT

SYLLABUS OUTCOME
• review the use of different metric units of measurement including units of area, take
measurements, and calculate conversions between common units of measurement, for
example kilometres to metres or litres to millilitres
• calculate the absolute error of a reported measurement using
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Absolute error = 2 × Precision and state the corresponding limits of accuracy
 find the limits of accuracy as given by:
Upper bound = Measurement + Absolute error
Lower bound = Measurement − Absolute error
 investigate types of errors, e.g. human error or device limitations
 calculate the percentage error of a reported measurement using:
Absolute error
Percentage error = × 100%
Measurement
• use standard form and standard metric prefixes in the context of measurement, with and
without a required number of significant figures
• standard prefixes include nano-, micro-, milli-, centi-, kilo-, mega-, giga- and tera-

Significant Figures
In a measurement the significant figures are the digits that best represent the number. A crowd of
61 348 is approximated to 61 000 to two significant figures as the 61 thousand is clearly more
significant than the 348 following.

Method
To round using significant figures:

• The first NON-ZERO digit from the left is the FIRST significant figure.
• The next digit (zeros now included) is the second significant figure and so on.
• Look at the next digit after the required number of significant figures and round.
• Place holding zeros may need to be added for large numbers.

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Examples:
Round the following to the number of significant figures in the bracket:
1) 125 637 [4] 2) 12.96 [1]

3) 91.006 [5] 4) 0.05036 [3]

5) 125.637 [2] 6) 12.86 [3]

7) 91.7006 [2] 8) 0.05036 [2]

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 49
Ex 2A: Questions 2−9

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Scientific Notation (Standard Notation)
Standard notation is used to abbreviate very large or small numbers. This notation is used in
science, engineering and computing.

872,000,000,000,000 = 8.72 × 1014

This number must be The base is The power is the number of

between 1 and 10. always 10. places the decimal place has
been moved.

0.000000691 = 6.91 × 10−7

Method
To write a number in scientific notation:

• Move the decimal point so that the number lies between 1 and 10.

(i.e. there should be ONE NON-ZERO digit in front of the decimal point)

• Carefully count how many places the decimal point is from its old position.

• Multiply by a power of 10 raised to this number.

• small numbers have a negative power (moved decimal point right)

• large numbers have a positive power (moved decimal point left)

• Round if required

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Examples:
1) Write the following in standard notation:

a) 234 b) 93 800 000

b) 0.004 d) 0.000597

2) Write in standard form to three significant figures:

a) 43567 b) 498 856 300

b) 0.00045672 d) 0.06328

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 51
Ex 2B: Questions 2,4,5

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Converting from Standard Notation to Basic Numeral
Sometimes you will be required to write number written in standard form as a basic numeral
Write as a basic numeral:

Method
To write a number back as a basic numeral:

• Write the decimal part of the standard notation down without the × 10𝑥𝑥 part.

• Identify where the decimal place is

• The power will tell you how many decimal places you need to ‘jump’ the decimal point.

• Observe if the power is positive or negative. This will tell you which direction to jump.

• If there is no number to jump over, write a zero down and jump over it

• If the decimal point ends up at the front of the numeral, put a zero before it to turn it into a
decimal.

Examples:
1) Write the following as a basic numeral

a) 2.9 × 10−2 b) 2.431 × 102

b) 9.38 × 10−5 c) 4.63 × 107

2) Which of the following are in standard form?

a) 4.678 × 107 b) 0.3 × 10−2

b) 34.5 × 103 d) 1.00 × 10−1

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3) Order the following from smallest to largest

4.3 × 102 9.99 × 10−1 3.5 × 10−2 1.5 × 107 7.678 × 10−2

4) Write the following in standard form:

a) the distance to the sun: 150000000km

b) the width of the nucleus in an atom: 0.0000000000000001m

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 51
Ex 2B: Questions 2,4,5

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Standard Form on a Calculator
Numbers written in standard form can be entered into a calculator.

Exp button on SHARP calculators

× 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝒙𝒙 button on CASIO calculators

For example: 872,000,000,000,000 = 8.72 × 1014 is entered as:

SHARP: 8.72 Exp 14 = and will display as: 8.72E14

CASIO: 8.72 × 𝟏𝟏𝟏𝟏𝒙𝒙 14 = and will display as: 8.72 × 1014

Examples
1) Evaluate using a calculator giving the answer in standard form:

a) 630 000 × (47000)2 b) (8.4 × 106 ) ÷ (3.8 × 1017 )

6.4×102 + 7.9×10−3
b) d) √2.25 × 104
2.1×104

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 53
Ex 2B: Questions 9−16

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Metric Units of Measurement

Quantity Basic Unit Symbol

Length metre m

Mass gram g

Time second s

Capacity litre L

When making measurements these base units may not be appropriate for the scale of the object
being measured. Metres are inappropriate units to measure the distance to America (kilometres) or
the thickness of a coin (millimetres).
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you are able to convert between different unit sizes in this subject.

Conversions of Length

Examples:
Use the diagram to convert the following distances into the units shown.

a) 30mm = _______________ cm b) 4800m = _______________km

c) 6.5m = _______________cm d) 6km = _______________cm

d) 32 000cm = _______________m e) 84 000mm = _______________km

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 54
Ex 2C: Questions 2−5

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Conversion of Mass

Examples:
Use the diagram to convert the following masses into the units shown.

a) 4000g = _______________ kg b) 9750kg = _______________t

c) 3.2kg = _______________g d) 0.65t = _______________kg

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 54
Ex 2C: Questions 7−10
Conversions of Capacity

Examples:
Use the diagram to convert the following capacities into the units shown.

b) 6000mL = _______________ L b) 0.8L = _______________mL

d) 2500L = _______________kL d) 2.45kL = _______________L

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 56
Ex 2C: Questions 12−15

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Try to remember,

Larger units to smaller units: multiply

Smaller units to larger units : divide

Converting Units of Area and Volume

Conversion of Area
Since 1m = 100cm, it is a very common mistake to assume 1m2 = 100cm2 .
In fact, 1m2 = 10,000cm2 .
Why?
When converting between units of area it is best practice to draw up a square to guide the
calculation.

1m2 =

HINT: It is often easier to carefully read a question, see what units are required in the answer, and
change all dimensions to fit these units before calculating.

Notice that you are making the conversion from m to cm (×100) twice as there are two
measurements (length and height) to convert.

Examples:
1) Draw up a conversion square to find how many:

a) mm2 in 1m2 b) m2 in 1km2

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2) 1 hectare (ha) is a square area with dimensions 100m × 100m. What is the area of a hectare
in m2 ?

3) Convert the following.

a) 2.5km2 into m2 b) 106.7m2 into km2

c) 3456mm2 into cm2 d) 345.67cm2 into m2

4) A school desk measures 125cm by 75cm. What is its area in square meters?

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 56
Ex 2C: Questions 17,18

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Conversion of Volume
Converting units of volume is done in a similar way to area.
When converting between units of volume it is best practice to draw up a cube to guide the
calculation.

1m3 =

Notice that you are making the conversion from m to cm (×100) three times as there are three
measurements (length, height and depth) to convert.

Examples:
1) Convert the following.

a) 123 mm3 into cm3 b) 106.7 m3 into cm3

2) The dimensions of B-Block are approximately 127m × 12m × 18m. What is its volume in:

a) m3 ? b) km3 ?

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 56
Ex 2C: Questions 20−24

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Prefixes for Units of Measurements
Prefixes are used to indicate the factor of 10 by which the base metric unit of measurement is
multiplied.

Examples:
1) Convert the following to metres

a) 3.6Gm b) 7µm

2) Convert 5.6m to:

a) kilometres b) micrometres

3) Convert the following.

a) 5.56Tg = _______________Mg b) 9.4mg = _______________µg

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 59
Ex 2D: Questions 1−8

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Error and Accuracy in Measurement
When physically measuring using a measuring instrument, there are several sources of possible
error and uncertainty.

Sources of Error
• Errors can occur is the zero on the scale of the measuring device does not coincide with the
end of the object being measured.

• An error can occur if the end of the measuring device has been damaged (i.e. snapped ruler).
It may require you to start measuring from a number other than zero (i.e. 1)

• Calibration error can occur if the scale is not accurately marked on the measuring device.

• Parallax error occurs if your eye is not directly in line with scale of the measuring device

• There will always be an error due to the limit of reading (scale) of measuring instrument

Repeating a measurement several times and averaging the values can reduce the effect of any
errors.

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Calculation with Measurements
When adding or subtracting measurements, the result is only as accurate as the measurement with
the least number of decimal places
When multiplying or dividing measurements, the result is only as accurate as the measurement
with the least number of significant figures

Examples:
1) John measured the width of maths textbook five times using a ruler marked in mm. The
results were 190mm, 189mm, 192mm and 190mm. Average these measurements to give an
approximation for the width of the book, to the nearest mm.

2) Write a sensible approximation for the result of this calculation:

15.642m + 8m + 19.21m

3) Write a sensible approximation for the result of this calculation:

15.2m × 9.8m

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 61
Ex 2E: Questions 1−13

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Absolute Error and Limits of Accuracy
The smallest unit on a measuring instrument is called the precision of the instrument. The smaller
the units on the device, the more precise (or accurate) the measurement will be.

To find the precision, look at the device that was used to measure and determine the smallest unit
of the scale.

In this case, precision is 1 cm

If a numerical measurement is given, the precision would be the smallest UNIT in the number.
e.g. for 12.4m the smallest unit is 0.1m

Now, because there is always some degree of error in any numerical measurement, the only
guarantee we have for total accuracy is that the measurement must lie in range of values. The range
of values is called the absolute error of the measurement and is equal to plus or minus half the
precision

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Absolute Error = ± × Precision
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The smallest and largest values between the actual measurement lies are call the lower and upper
bound of the true measurement. These are the limits of accuracy of the measurement.

Upper Bound: this upper most limit that a measurement can be considered accurate
Upper Bound = Measurement + Absolute Error

Lower Bound: this is the lowest limit that a measurement can be considered accurate
Lower Bound = Measurement − Absolute Error

Bounds on True Measurement = actual measurement ± absolute error

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Examples:
1) For each of the measurement below, find:
a) the smallest unit of measurement (precision)
b) the absolute error

i) 18cm

ii) 2.4kg

iii) 1.35L

iv) 56.162 seconds

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 65
Ex 2F: Question 2

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2) For each of the following measurements, find:

a) the precision
b) the absolute error
c) the upper and lower bounds of the true measurement

i) 16 seconds

ii) 9.38m

iii) 24.854kg

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3) In a Chemistry experiment Jackson measured out 45mL of hydrochloric acid in a measuring
cylinder with 10mL graduations.

a) What is the precision of the measuring cylinder?

b) What is the absolute error in his measurement?

c) Between what bounds does the true measurement lie?

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 66
Ex 2F: Question 4,5,6

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Percentage Error
In many applications the accuracy of a measurement is often represented by the percentage error
which is absolute error as a percentage of the measurement.

absolute error
Percentage Error = × 100
measurement

Examples:
1) Find the percentage error for the following measurements:

a) 18kg b) 1.04kL

b) 34mins d) 8.65cm

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 66
Ex 2F: Question 7

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Measurements and the Perimeter
Method
• Calculate the perimeter using the measured length and breadth.
• Determine the lower and upper bounds of each given measurement.
• Calculate the perimeter using the lower and upper bounds of length and breadth.
• Find the difference between the perimeter, calculated using the given measurements, and the
perimeter using the lower (or upper) bound of each measurement.

Example:
The length and breadth of a rectangle were measured to be 8cm and 6cm respectively.

a) Calculate the perimeter of the rectangles using these measurements.

b) Find the upper and lower bounds of the rectangle’s true perimeter

c) Hence find the maximum error in the answer to part a)

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 PRACTISE
Measurements and the Area Insight Textbook page 67
Method Ex 2F: Question 10

• Calculate the area using the measured length and breadth.

• Determine the lower and upper bounds of each given measurement.
• Calculate the area using the lower and upper bounds of length and breadth.
• Find the difference between the area, calculated using the given measurements, and the
perimeter using the lower (or upper) bound of each measurement.

Example:
The length and breadth of a rectangle were measured to be 8cm and 6cm respectively.

a) Calculate the area, using the measurements given.

b) Find the upper and lower bounds of the true area

c) Hence , find the maximum error in the answer to part a)

PRACTISE
Insight Textbook page 68
Ex 2F: Question 12−17

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