ERROR ANALYSIS

An important aspect of physics is the making of accurate measurements. However, no measurement

is absolutely precise and uncertainties arise from various sources briefly discussed below.

1. Human errors: an example of such an error is reading the wrong scale of a measuring
device. Human errors can be detected and avoided by:

(a) taking a rough preliminary set of measurements which may reveal flaws in the
experiment and familiarize you with the procedure;
(b) plotting your data and evaluating your results immediately.

If your results are inconsistent, you then have the opportunity to find the cause and make
corrections.

2. Systematic errors: examples of systematic errors are reading a meter with parallax, or reading
a meter which has a zero error. If you are aware of parallax you can avoid it. The zero offset
of a meter can often be adjusted. If this is not possible you should record the zero offset of the
meter and correct your readings for it.

3. Random errors: these errors can be reduced by repeating the measurement several times. For
instance, if x1, x2,..., xn are the values obtained from n measurements of the same quantity, then
the average of these measurements

1 n
x   xi
n i 1
(1)

If n = 2 or 3, the error estimate is the mean deviation, ∆x, given by

x 
 x x i
(2.a)
n

If n  4 , the error estimate is the standard deviation, σ, given by

1 n
  xi  x 
2
 (2.b)
n  1 i 1

The accuracy of instrument scales

It is not possible to read an instrument reliably beyond some fraction of its smallest division. For
example, if a student uses a centimetre ruler to measure the length of an object, the result should be
accurate to at least 1 mm, which is the smallest division of the ruler. However, with some effort one
would be able to estimate the length of the object within 0.5 mm or even to 0.1 mm depending on the
quality of the ruler and on the person who performs the measurement.
The Maximum Error Analysis
The maximum error analysis is based on Murphy's Law: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Hence,
we assume that all errors add up in the same direction, i.e. making the measured quantity either too
large or too small. For instance, if

1
 x  ab (3)

then the maximum error in x is

x  a  b (4)

where a and b are the errors in a and b respectively. A measure of how accurately the quantity x
has been measured is the relative error. For the example above the relative error in x is

x a  b
 (5)
x ab

Note that the relative error in x may become rather large when a and b are approximately equal, even
if a and b are relatively small. Hence, the uncertainty in a measurement of the difference between
two nearly equal quantities is generally large, and such a measurement should be avoided.

The maximum relative error for x in

ab
x  (6)
c

is given by

x a b c
   . (7)
x a b c

The maximum relative error for x in

x  ac n (8)

is given by

x a c
 n . (9)
x a c

These formulae can be easily derived using the binomial expansion:

n(n  1) 2
(1  x) n  1  nx  x  (10)
2!

and approximating to first order.

When quoting the results of a measurement it is good practice to state the precision or estimated
uncertainty in the measurement. For example, the width of a sheet of paper measured using a ruler
would be written as x = 18.8 ± 0.1 cm. The quantity 0.1 cm represents the estimated uncertainty in
the measurement, and means that the true value lies between 18.7 cm and 18.9 cm. The relative error
may be found from the quotient of x and x. In this case it is 5  10-3 or 0.5%.

2
Exercises

1. You have measured the length of a rectangular block of wood as being 400.0 mm with an
estimated error of 1.0 mm. Calculate the relative error in the length of the block, and express
your result as a percentage.

2. A cylindrical block of wood of diameter 60.0 ± 1.0 mm and length 20.0 mm ± 1.0 mm is used
to construct a compound pendulum.

(a) Calculate the volume of the block in m3,

(b) find the relative error in the volume as a percentage,
(c) Determine the absolute error in the volume.

3. If the mass of the cylindrical block used (2) is measured to 550 ± 1 g. Find the density in
kg.m3 and its associated relative error.

4. Suppose that you have determined the volume of a metal sphere by immersing it in a
measuring cylinder, and you find the result to be 50.0 ± 0.5 cm3. Calculate the radius of the
sphere and its associated absolute error in cm. The volume of a sphere is given by the
expression

4 3
VS  r .
3

Hint: Use expressions (8) and (9) given in page 8 or the derivative method.

Error analysis using derivatives

Derivatives are useful in determining the relative error. The results given here will become useful
later in the year. Suppose that you have measured a quantity x with an error x, and that you wish to
find the error in some function of x which may be written as f(x). Provided x is sufficiently small
we can write

f
 f (x) . (11)
x

The error in f(x) (which must be positive) can therefore be estimated as follows:

[ f ( x)]  f ( x) x . (12)

When you are dealing with a function with more than one measured variable the error in the function
can be determined using what are known as partial derivatives. These will be introduced to you in
Mathematics a little later. For completeness the error in the function f(x,y,z) is given below in terms
of partial derivatives:

f f f
[ f ( x, y, z )]  x  y  z . (13)
x y z

3
Exercises (cont.)

5. Find expressions for the error in the following functions of x:

f ( x)  cos x g( x)  cos x f ( x)  ln x g( x )  e x

f ( x, y )  x  y  
h( x, z)  z.cos x 2 f (T )  T n

6. Find the error in sin x and cos x for the angle x = 10° ± 1°. Comment on your answer.

4
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

The number of reliably known digits in a number is called the number of significant figures. There
are three significant figures in the number 18.8, two in 18 and four in 18.80. Likewise there are three
significant figures in the number 0.0188, two in 0.018 and four in 0.01880. The rule when dealing
with numbers that are less than 1 is to drop all the leading zeros and to count all the digits which
are left. To understand this consider writing these numbers in scientific notation,
1.88E-2, 1.8E-2, and 1.880E-2 and you notice that leading zero’s are not important, as is the case
when you are dealing with numbers greater than 1.

Writing a number as 18.20 implies an error of approximately  0.01; all decimal places beyond the
second place are unreliable (i.e., smaller than the error).

Certain rules must be followed when combining values with different numbers of significant figures
in calculations.

Adding and Subtracting: When several numbers are to be added or subtracted, the result should
contain as many decimal places as in the number with the fewest.

e.g. 18.3 + 2.04 + 0.004 = 20.344 = 20.3

Since the result is reliable only to 0.1 (from the 18.3) it should be quoted to 1 decimal place only.

Multiplying and Dividing:

For intermediate calculations, when numbers are multiplied or divided the result should be given
with one more significant figure as in the number with the fewest, for example:

e.g. 18.3  2.04  0.004 = 0.149 = 0.15

Quoting a number like 0.004 implies an error of 0.001, which is accurate to 25%, while the other two
numbers used are much more accurate. The numbers 18.3 and 2.04 have three significant figures,
but 0.004 has only one. The answer should not be given to more than two significant figures. The
accuracy of the final answer, determined from a maximum error analysis, should be
comparable to the accuracy of the least most accurate number used in the product.

In summary: Since measurements and computations in the lab will involve many intermediate
calculations, in order to prevent errors due to rounding, you should keep one additional significant
figure for all intermediate calculations and only round to the correct number of significant figures
when presenting your final result.

When making measurements, or doing calculations, you should not have more digits in the
final answer than the number of significant figures. One figure more in calculations is an
acceptable policy. A useful general rule is to give your final answer to no more significant
figures than in the least accurate of your original measurements (this depends to some extent on
how your values have been combined in reaching the final result). This is a reflection of the principle:

“The strength of a chain comprising a number of links is determined by the strength of

the weakest link”

5
VERNIERS AND THE MICROMETER

A vernier is a useful device, which makes it possible to read a fraction of the smallest division of the
scale of an instrument. The vernier is a small auxiliary scale, which slides along the main scale, and
has divisions a little shorter than the scale divisions of the instrument. In most cases the vernier scale
has n divisions which correspond to n - 1 divisions on the main scale. One vernier division is equal
to n n 1 main scale divisions. Consider the situation depicted on the scale below in fig 1.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Fig 1

The 7th vernier division coincides with a main scale division. Hence, the 6th vernier division lies 0.01
units to the right of a main scale division, and the 5th vernier division lies 0.02 units to the right of a
main scale division. Continuing in this manner it is obvious that the 0th vernier division lies 0.07
units to the right of the 2.5 units division of the main scale. The scale reading is therefore 2.5 + 0.07
units = 2.57 units. The vernier is used in many devices such as calipers, micrometer screw gauges and
travelling microscopes.

The following rule of thumb will enable you to read vernier scales effectively. Firstly locate the
position of the zero on the vernier scale relative to the main scale and this will tell you the range
within which your reading lies on the main scale (in the above between 2.5 and 2.6). Next locate the
point at which the scales coincide on the vernier scale (at 7 in the sketch above). The vernier scale
is reading 101 –th of the main scale, and the reading is therefore 2.57 units

Vernier calipers

(b)

(a)

Fig 2.

The main scale (a) of the Vernier Caliper depicted in fig 2 is divided into mm. In this case the
Vernier scale has 20 divisions of the Vernier scale. This means the Vernier Caliper can read
accurately to ±0.05 mm. The reading for the above Vernier scale is 14.40 ±0.05 mm

6
The micrometer screw gauge

Fig 3.

The anvil of the micrometer is fixed, and the spindle can be moved backwards and forwards by
rotating the ratchet. Always rotate the screw using the ratchet rather than the thimble. This means
that the device will always be tightened to the same extent, and will never be over-tightened. The
pitch of the screw which drives spindle is usually 0.5mm, which means that if the thimble is rotated
through one complete turn the spindle will move through exactly 0.5mm. The circular scale is
divided into 50 divisions. Each division therefore represents 0.01 mm. The distance d can be read
off to 0.5 mm on the main scale. The rest of the reading is then taken on the rotating scale.

The reading on the micrometer screw gauge in fig 3 above is 4.72 ±0.01mm.

7
STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF ERRORS

In the section entitled Error Analysis three types of error were listed.

1. Human errors – these can be eliminated by taking care.

2. Systematic errors – these can, in principle, be avoided by good experimental technique. The
accurate calibration and zeroing of instruments is particularly important.

3. Random errors – these are usually characteristic of the experiment. A good example of such
an error is the timing of 10 periods of a simple pendulum (see Experiment. 2). In this
measurement the main source of error is the reaction time of the experimenter. If this
measurement were repeated several times, then the effects of this error would lead to a range
of different values. The reaction time is known as a random error, and the effects of random
errors can be minimised by repeating the measurement several times.

In this section an elementary treatment of random (or statistical) errors is presented. This treatment
assumes that all human and systematic errors are negligible, and that only random errors are
important.

The Gaussian Distribution

Suppose that a series of measurements of a particular quantity are made (a good illustrative example
is the mass of new–born babies). Suppose also that no systematic or human errors are involved in
the measuring procedure (this would mean all the scales were correctly calibrated, and that all the
nursing staff were correctly applying the measuring procedure). The results of this type of
measurement for about 300 babies are likely to be the histogram shown in Fig 1 below.

120
100
80
Number 60
of babies
40
20
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5
Fig 1.
Mass (kg)

The best fit curve through the centre point of each division on the histogram would be the curve
shown in fig. 2. This curve is known as the normal or Gaussian distribution. The more measurements
we take, and the smaller we make the class divisions, the closer the histogram resembles the smooth
curve.

8
 120
100
80
Number 60
of babies
40
20
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fig 2.
Mass (kg)

Statisticians are extremely fond of the Gaussian distribution, because many natural and human
phenomena (such as the final marks for the Physics IC course) are likely to follow this distribution. As
physicists we are also interested in this distribution because our treatment of statistical errors is based on
the Gaussian distribution.

The probability P(xi) of obtaining a particular value xi in a measurement is given by

lim n( xi )
P ( xi ) = (1)
n n

where n(xi) is the number of observations of xi in a total of n observations (note that the definition is
true for the limit as the number of observations become infinite – in order to define the probability
we have to do a large number of measurements). The result for the Gaussian distribution is

1  1 ( xi  x ) 2 
P( xi )  exp    (2)
2  2 
2


where x is the mean of all the observations, and  is a quantity which measures the "width" of the
distribution. You should note that the function P ( xi ) is a continuous function of xi, and that the
variable xi may take on all real values of xi. As such, we may plot the function for various values of
x and . If you do a course in Statistics you will learn a great deal more about the Gaussian
distribution, and if you major in Physics you will meet this distribution again in Statistical Physics
III in 3rd year. Fig. 3 on the next page illustrates the effect of different values of  for a given value
of x . You should be able to determine the value of x from this graph. What is it? It can be seen
that as  decreases, the “sharper” the distribution is around the mean value. The curves shown in the
graph have the same area under each curve.

9
 0.8
 = 0.5

0.6  = 1.0

P(x) 0.4

0.2

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fig 3. x (units)

If a physical quantity were measured many times (for instance, the period of a simple pendulum,
using a stopwatch) then the results of this procedure would follow the Gaussian distribution closely.
The centre of the distribution would be the mean <x> and the spread of readings that we obtained
would be described by the quantity . The mean for n measurements is given by

n
1
<x> =
n
x
i=1
i (3)

The quantity  is known as the standard deviation. The standard deviation is the root–mean–square
deviation of the observations from the mean. It may be thought of as a "mean" of the deviations from
the mean, and is given by:

1 n 2
 i
n 1i 1
(4)

where i = xi – <x> is the i–th residual, and n is the number of observations. The calculation of  for
a set of data for the period of a simple pendulum is outlined in the table below.

Ti (s) i = Ti – <T> (s) i2 (s2)

2.45 +0.05 0.0025
2.38 –0.02 0.0004
2.35 –0.05 0.0025
2.39 –0.01 0.0001
2.41 +0.01 0.0001
2.42 +0.02 0.0004
14.40 0.00 0.0060

The mean may be calculated from (3), and the standard deviation from (4). The results are 2.40 s
and 0.03 s respectively. You should be sure that you get the same numerical results.

10
For large n it is possible to show that 68% of all measurement lie within one standard deviation of
the mean, and that 95% of all readings lie within two standard deviations of the mean. This principle
will be used to analyse the data in Experiment 3 – The Range of a Spring Gun.

A small value of  indicates a high precision in our measured values. The standard deviation can be
used directly to estimate the statistical error when you take several measurements of a single quantity.
In the above example you would write the final result for the period as

T = 2.40 ± 0.03 s

The standard deviation also allows you to decide whether to keep or discard a point that has a large
residual. In this course you may discard a reading if the residual is larger than three standard
deviations. In the example above no points are discarded.

Exercise

1) You can use a statistical error analysis to analyse your results for Experiment 2 (The Simple
Pendulum). Assuming that the expression for the period of the simple pendulum given in the
notes on Experiment 2 is correct, you could calculate a value for the acceleration due to gravity
from each pair of T and l results using

4 2 l
g  . (5)
T2

Make a suitable table of these ten results, and calculate the mean and standard deviation using
the method outlined above.

11
GRAPHICAL METHODS

In experimental science we are often faced with the problem of deducing a relationship between a
number of variables from a set of measurements. A common method of making such relationships
visible is by plotting a graph. In preparing a graph the following points should be observed:

1. The graph must have an instructive caption, which indicates the meanings of the symbols used;

2. The axes must be labelled, and the units given;

3. A good scale is very important. A well-considered scale uses the graph paper to the best
advantage and is convenient to the graduation of the paper. One unit on the graph paper should
represent 2, 5 or 10 units of x or y (or multiples of 10 thereof such as 20, 500 or 1000; but not,
for example, units like 3, 25 or 400);

4. In general, the graph (section with data points) must cover at least 75% of the page. In the case
of a straight line, the graph should be plotted so the line makes an angle of approximately 45°
with the axes.

5. The origin need not always be included, as the intercept can be calculated rather than read off;

6. The data points should always include error bars. For each data point (𝑥 , 𝑦 ) with error estimates
±∆x and ±∆y, respectively, the error bar for the x coordinate extends from 𝑥 − ∆𝑥 to 𝑥 + ∆𝑥
while the error bar for the y coordinate extends from 𝑦 − ∆𝑦 to 𝑦 + ∆𝑥, as shown below;

7. The centroid ( ) must be shown. The coordinates for the centroid (𝑥̅ , 𝑦) are the mean of the
x values and the mean of the y values, respectively, of the data;

8. It is customary to plot the independent variable, i.e. the quantity we choose to vary (x in this
case), as the abscissa (horizontally), and the dependent variable, i.e. the quantity which varies as
a result of our variation of x (y in this case) as ordinate (vertically);

A plot of y vs x for a fictitious experiment

10

6
y (units)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
x (units)

12
A commonly observed graph is that of a straight line given by the equation

y  mx  c . (1)

The two constants that characterize the line are m, the slope of the line, and c, the intercept on the
y-axis. m is the increase in y per unit increase in x:

y
m  . (2)
x
10

6 y
y
4

2 x
c
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
x

The intercept on the y-axis, c, is the value of y when x = 0. If c = 0, the line passes through the origin
and y is said to be proportional to x. If c  0 then y is said to be linearly dependent on x.

Suppose that we want to find the slope and intercept from a given straight–line graph. This is done
by drawing the best straight line through the data points (line of best slope or best line). A reasonable
criterion for the best line is that the average displacement of the data points from this line is zero, as
indicated in the figure below. The best line must pass through the centroid.

10 d
5

8 d
4

d
6 3
y (units)

d
2
4

d
2 1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
x (units)

13
The best line is most easily drawn with a transparent ruler which allows you to judge, to the best of
your ability, if the criterion

d1  d 2    d n  0 (3)

is satisfied. (Note that each di may be positive or negative). This line should be drawn lightly in
pencil first, and then checked by looking at a low angle along this line.

To find the maximum error in the slope m and in the intercept c, one draws two lines corresponding
to the maximum and minimum allowable slopes through the data (the lines of worst slope or the error
lines), as indicated in the figure below. These error lines must also pass through the centroid. Try to
be reasonable with the error lines; do not take too much notice of data points close to the centroid
and the best line should be approximately midway between the error lines, as shown below.

12

10

8
y (units)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
x (units)

The maximum and minimum slopes are a matter of subjective judgement. The best criterion to use
is to ask yourself:

“What are the maximum and minimum slopes that I can put through this set of
points which are not obviously and/or ridiculously wrong?”

From these lines the maximum and minimum allowable slopes and intercepts can be determined
from the graph. When finding a slope find the positions of the points from which the slope is to be
calculated. Indicate these by small arrows and give their x,y co-ordinates. Often x is selected to be
an integral number of units. The slopes of the two worst lines (m1 and m2) and the intercepts (c1 and
c2) can be used to estimate the error in the slope and the intercept as follows:

m  m1  m  m2
m  ; (4)
2

c  c1  c  c 2
c  ; (5)
2

where m and c are the slope and intercept of the best straight line. Here, the intercepts c, c1 and c2
are read off directly from the graph.
14
It may not be possible to read off the intercept value from the graph (if a sensible scale is used!).
In such cases, the intercept and its associated error can be calculated as follows:
𝑐 = 𝑦 − 𝑚𝑥̅ ; (6)

∆𝑐 = (∆𝑚) 𝑥̅ ; (7)

where m and ∆m are obtained from equations (2) and (4), respectively, and 𝑥̅ is the x-coordinate
of the centroid.

In this discussion the condition (3) has been satisfied qualitatively. Later in the year this qualitative
analysis will not be sufficient, and you will attempt to minimise the sum

Z  d12  d 22    d n2 . (8)

Curve fitting methods based on this criterion are called least-squares fits. They require a personal
computer. We will use excel to fit a given mathematical model to the data in the second half of the
year. The computer also finds the errors in the slope and intercept. For the first half of the year the
simpler method based on (3) will suffice.

The straight line is the simplest curve to fit to a set of data, and one should arrange the data so that a
straight line can be drawn through the plotted points. For instance, the function

k
y  c (9)
x

1
can be transformed into a straight line by plotting y versus , as shown below.
x

7.5
7 7
6.5 6.5
y (units)

6 6
y (units)

5.5
5.5
5
5
4.5
4.5 4
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
4 -1 -1
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 x (units )
x (units)

Note how difficult it is to determine the constants k and c from the graph on the left, whereas the
values of k and c follow immediately from the slope of the straight-line graph on the right, and its
intercept with the y-axis.
As another example, consider the function

y  ax 2 (10)

which can be plotted as a straight line by plotting y versus x2, as shown on the next page.

15
 50 50

40
40

y (units)
30
y (units)

30

20
20

10
10

0
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
2 2
x (units) x (units )

Many physical processes are described by an equation of the form

y  ae  x  a exp (  x) . (11)

The quantity e is an irrational number given by

n
lim  1
e  1    2.718 (12)
n n

and is the natural base of logarithms. In the interests of clear notation we will write the logarithm to
the base e as ln, whereas the logarithm to the base 10 will be denoted by log. Hence

a  ln b  b  exp (a ) ; (13)

a  log b  b  10 a . (14)

Taking natural logarithms of both sides of (7) gives the following:

ln y  ln a   x . (15)

Plotting ln y versus x yields a straight line of slope –  and intercept ln a, as shown in the figures
below.

3
1
2.5
ln y (y in units)

2 0
y (units)

1.5
-1
1
-2
0.5
0 -3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
x (units) x (units)

16
Exercise

1. In each of the following examples you should rearrange the equation so that you can plot a
straight-line graph, explain what you would plot on the x- and y- axes, and how you would
determine the unknown quantities from the graph.

(a) C  aT  bT 3 C, T measured values; a, b unknown.

a b
(b) z.t   z, t measured values; a, b unknown.
t t2

(c) p  k v p, v measured values; k,  unknown.

(d) xy  a exp (bxy ) x, y measured values; a, b unknown.

y
(e) bx  x, y measured values; a, b unknown.
ay

2. The data in the table below were obtained in the laboratory. The expected relationship between
s and t is

y  v0t  12 at 2 ,

where v0 and a are constants. Linearize this equation and plot a graph (with error bars) of the
linearized equation. Put the best and two worst straight lines through the data, and determine
the slope and intercept and their relative errors using the information provided in this section.
From these results estimate the values of v0, a together with their absolute errors. You may
find it helpful to set up a table to determine the errors in the linearized variables, or you may
use a spreadsheet.

y (m) t (s)
0.100  0.002 3.8  0.1
0.200  0.002 6.5  0.1
0.300  0.002 8.7  0.1
0.400  0.002 10.9  0.2
0.500  0.002 12.4  0.1

17