Unit 1: Measurements and their errors

• Precision: A measure of how close a measurement is to the mean value. It only gives an indication of the magnitude of random errors, not how close data is to the true value.
• Accuracy: A measure of how close a measurement is to the true value.
• Systematic Error: Causes all readings to differ from the true value by a fixed amount. Systematic error cannot be corrected by repeat readings, instead a different technique or apparatus should be used.
• Reproducible: An experiment can be repeated by a different experimenter using a different method and different apparatus, and still obtain the same results.
• Repeatable: The same experimenter can repeat a measurement using the same method and equipment and obtain the same value.
• Uncertainty: The interval that a value is said to lie within, with a given level of confidence.
• Resolution: The smallest change in a quantity that causes a visible change in the reading that a measuring instrument records.