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ErrorinMeasurement
TopicIndex|AlgebraIndex|RegentsExamPrepCenter

The
precisionofa
Anymeasurementmadewithameasuringdeviceisapproximate.
Ifyoumeasurethesameobjecttwodifferenttimes,thetwo
measurementsmaynotbeexactlythesame.Thedifferencebetween
twomeasurementsiscalledavariationinthemeasurements.
Anotherwordforthisvariationoruncertaintyinmeasurementis
"error." This"error"isnotthesameasa"mistake."Itdoesnot
meanthatyougotthewronganswer.Theerrorinmeasurementisa
mathematicalwaytoshowtheuncertaintyinthemeasurement.Itis
thedifferencebetweentheresultofthemeasurementandthetrue
valueofwhatyouweremeasuring.

measuring
instrument
isdeterminedbythe
smallestunittowhich
itcanmeasure.The
precisionissaidtobe
thesameasthe
smallestfractionalor
decimaldivisiononthe
scaleofthemeasuring
instrument.

WaysofExpressingErrorinMeasurement:
1.GreatestPossibleError:
Becausenomeasurementisexact,measurementsarealwaysmadetothe"nearestsomething",
whetheritisstatedornot.Thegreatestpossibleerrorwhenmeasuringisconsideredtobeone
halfofthatmeasuringunit.Forexample,youmeasurealengthtobe3.4cm.Sincethe
measurementwasmadetothenearesttenth,thegreatestpossibleerrorwillbehalfofonetenth,
or0.05.

2.Toleranceintervals:

Accuracyisa
Errorinmeasurementmayberepresentedbyatoleranceinterval
measureofhowclose
(marginoferror).Machinesusedinmanufacturingoftensettolerance
theresultofthe
intervals,orrangesinwhichproductmeasurementswillbetolerated
measurementcomesto
oracceptedbeforetheyareconsideredflawed.
the"true","actual",or
"accepted"value.
Todeterminethetoleranceintervalinameasurement,addand
(Howcloseisyour
subtractonehalfoftheprecisionofthemeasuringinstrumenttothe
answertotheaccepted
measurement.
value?)

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Toleranceisthe

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Forexample,ifameasurementmadewithametricruleris5.6cmand
therulerhasaprecisionof0.1cm,thenthetoleranceintervalinthis
measurementis5.6 0.05cm,orfrom5.55cmto5.65cm.Any
measurementswithinthisrangeare"tolerated"orperceivedascorrect.

Toleranceisthe
greatestrangeof
variationthatcanbe
allowed.
(Howmucherrorinthe
answerisoccurringoris
acceptable?)

3.AbsoluteErrorandRelativeError:
Errorinmeasurementmayberepresentedbytheactualamountoferror,orbyaratio
comparingtheerrortothesizeofthemeasurement.
Theabsoluteerrorofthemeasurementshowshowlargetheerroractuallyis,whiletherelative
errorofthemeasurementshowshowlargetheerrorisinrelationtothecorrectvalue.
Absoluteerrorsdonotalwaysgiveanindicationofhowimportanttheerrormaybe.Ifyouare
measuringafootballfieldandtheabsoluteerroris1cm,theerrorisvirtuallyirrelevant.But,if
youaremeasuringasmallmachinepart(<3cm),anabsoluteerrorof1cmisverysignificant.
Whilebothsituationsshowanabsoluteerrorof1cm.,therelevanceoftheerrorisvery
different.Forthisreason,itismoreusefultoexpresserrorasarelativeerror.Wewillbe
workingwithrelativeerror.

AbsoluteError:
Absoluteerrorissimplytheamountofphysicalerrorinameasurement.

Forexample,ifyouknowalengthis3.535m+0.004m,then0.004misanabsoluteerror.
Absoluteerrorispositive.

InplainEnglish:Theabsoluteerroristhedifferencebetweenthemeasuredvalueandthe
actualvalue.(Theabsoluteerrorwillhavethesameunitlabelasthemeasuredquantity.)

RelativeError:
Relativeerroristheratiooftheabsoluteerrorofthemeasurementtotheaccepted
measurement.Therelativeerrorexpressesthe"relativesizeoftheerror"ofthemeasurement
inrelationtothemeasurementitself.

Shouldtheacceptedortruemeasurement
NOTbeknown,therelativeerrorisfound
Whentheacceptedortruemeasurementis
usingthemeasuredvalue,whichisconsidered
known,therelativeerrorisfoundusing
tobeameasureofprecision.

whichisconsideredtobeameasureofaccuracy.

InplainEnglish:
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4.PercentofError:
Errorinmeasurementmayalsobeexpressedasapercentoferror.Thepercentoferroris
foundbymultiplyingtherelativeerrorby100%.

WaystoImproveAccuracyinMeasurement
1.Makethemeasurementwithaninstrumentthathasthehighestlevelofprecision.The
smallertheunit,orfractionofaunit,onthemeasuringdevice,themorepreciselythedevice
canmeasure.Theprecisionofameasuringinstrumentisdeterminedbythesmallestunitto
whichitcanmeasure.
2.Knowyourtools!Applycorrecttechniqueswhenusingthemeasuringinstrumentand
readingthevaluemeasured.Avoidtheerrorcalled"parallax"alwaystakereadingsby
lookingstraightdown(orahead)atthemeasuringdevice.Lookingatthemeasuringdevice
fromaleftorrightanglewillgiveanincorrectvalue.
3.Repeatthesamemeasureseveraltimestogetagoodaveragevalue.
4.Measureundercontrolledconditions.Iftheobjectyouaremeasuringcouldchangesize
dependinguponclimaticconditions(swellorshrink),besuretomeasureitunderthesame
conditionseachtime.Thismayapplytoyourmeasuringinstrumentsaswell.

Examples:
1.Skeeter,thedog,weighsexactly36.5pounds.Whenweighedonadefective
scale,heweighed38pounds.(a)Whatisthepercentoferrorinmeasurementofthe
defectivescaletothenearesttenth?(b)IfMillie,thecat,weighs14poundsonthe
samedefectivescale,whatisMillie'sactualweighttothenearesttenthofapound

Answer(a)

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(b)

Letx=Millie'sactualweight
14=x+.041x
x=13.4pounds

2.Theactuallengthofthisfieldis500feet.Ameasuring
instrumentshowsthelengthtobe508feet.
Find:
a.)theabsoluteerrorinthemeasuredlengthofthefield.
b.)therelativeerrorinthemeasuredlengthofthefield.
c.)thepercentageerrorinthemeasuredlengthofthefield

Answer:
a.)Theabsoluteerrorinthelengthofthefieldis8feet.
b.)Therelativeerrorinthelengthofthefieldis

c.)Thepercentageerrorinthelengthofthefieldis

3.Findtheabsoluteerror,relativeerrorandpercentoferroroftheapproximation3.14
tothevalue ,usingtheTI83+/84+entryofpiastheactualvalue.

TopicIndex|AlgebraIndex|RegentsExamPrepCenter
CreatedbyDonnaRoberts
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