Errors & Uncertainties

• Random error:

  • varying size and direction
  • cannot be eliminated
  • reduced by repeating and averaging
  • affects precision
  • ex: parallax error
• Systematic error:

  • error is either above or below true value
  • error is of constant sign and magnitude
  • reduced by improving experimental techniques
  • affects accuracy
• accuracy is how close a measured value is to the true value
• precision is how close the measured values are to each other, a small range of values means higher precision