REVIEW

Error & Uncertainty

Understanding Measurement
Design an experiment to determine
the power used to boil some water
Include uncertainties in your calculations
Main Equipment
• You will be in groups
• Give your group a unique and recognisable
brand name (PG-13)
In your group
• Write a design brief
(briefly describe each step, use equations)
• Consider uncertainty
(detailed error propagation)
Groups:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Conceptual Knowledge Understanding measurement

Accuracy & Precision

In a set of measurements, accuracy is closeness of the

measurements to a specific value, while precision is the
closeness of the measurements to each other.

Accuracy
description of systematic errors
low accuracy causes a difference between a result
and a "true" value (ISO calls this trueness).

Precision
description of random errors
refers to how well measurements agree with each
other in multiple tests.
Conceptual Knowledge Understanding measurement

Measuring Uncertainty

• Let’s see how to find the values x and Δx when we know the range of values between which
the true value of our measurement lies.
• The measured, x, value falls at the midpoint of the range, that is, half way between the
highest possible value and the lowest possible value.
• Similarly, Δx, is the mid-point of the range. So we can express a range of values in x±Δx
form by finding the midpoint of the range, and finding half the width of the range
Conceptual Knowledge Understanding measurement

Measuring Uncertainty

• Exactly how much uncertainty will depend on the type of scale, how close the
graduation lines are, and how clearly we can see the scale.
• There is no one set rule that tells exactly how much uncertainty we’ll get from an
analogue scale.
• Ultimately, the amount of uncertainty is determined by the confidence that you
have when reading the instrument
Conceptual Knowledge Understanding measurement

Error propagation
• When you do calculations with values that have uncertainties, you will need to determine the
uncertainty in the result. How uncertainty of a calculated result is affected by the uncertainty
of the numbers used to make the calculation is called uncertainty propagation

Adding numbers with uncertainty

Subtracting numbers with uncertainty

Multiplying numbers with uncertainty

Dividing numbers with uncertainty

Conceptual Knowledge Understanding measurement

Example