Scribd
Upload
872 views16 pages

Absolute and Relative Uncertainty

Absolute and relative uncertainty provide ways to quantify and report the uncertainty in a measurement. Absolute uncertainty has the same units as the measured quantity and indicates the range of values the true value lies within. Relative uncertainty is dimensionless and expresses uncertainty as a percentage of the measured value. A measurement includes a best estimate value and an uncertainty range to indicate the level of confidence in the measurement.

Uploaded by

Kyla Renz de Leon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
872 views16 pages

Absolute and Relative Uncertainty

Absolute and relative uncertainty provide ways to quantify and report the uncertainty in a measurement. Absolute uncertainty has the same units as the measured quantity and indicates the range of values the true value lies within. Relative uncertainty is dimensionless and expresses uncertainty as a percentage of the measured value. A measurement includes a best estimate value and an uncertainty range to indicate the level of confidence in the measurement.

Uploaded by

Kyla Renz de Leon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 16

ABSOLUTE

AND RELATIVE
UNCERTAINTY
A measurement is represented by two
components;
•A numerical or measured value with
proper unit that gives the best estimate
of the quantity measured (VARIANCE
and SD)
•Degree of uncertainty in the
measurement
UNCERTAINTY
•Indicates the range of values within
which the measurement is asserted
to lie with some level of confidence.
•May be reported as absolute or
relative uncertainty
ABSOLUTE UNCERTAINTY-
• Has the same number as the quantity it self.
• For Example the resistance of a wire is (25.00 + 0.05) Ώ.
• Absolute uncertainty is 0.05 Ώ.
• The resistance of a wire ranges from (25.00
-0.05) Ώ to (25.00+ 0.05)
• 24.95 Ώ to 25.05 Ώ
RELATIVE UNCERTAINTY
• Also called as percent uncertainty.
• Dimensionless and is obtained by dividing the absolute uncertainty by
the numerical or measured value.

For Example :
(25.00 + 0.05) Ώ
Absolute uncertainty- shows
how large the error is , while
Relative uncertainty shows how
large the error did in relation to
the true value
•1. The speed of an ant was
measured to be v= (3.05 + 0.02)
cm/s.Find the
•Absolute uncertainty and
• relative uncertainty of the speed of
an ant.
• 2. The measurement of the volume of an object
is 1.53+ 2.5 %. Find the absolute uncertainty .
•3. The mass of an object is found to
be (24.5 + 0.1 g) . Find the absolute
uncertainty and relative uncertainty
of the mass of an object.
•4. The density of an object was
found to be 2.7 g/cm + 1.2 % .
What is the absolute uncertainty
of the object?
CALCULATE THE RELATIVE
UNCERTAINTY OF TH FOLLOWING
VALUES
•5. ) 30 + 0.96s
•6. )11 + 0.64mg
•7. )10 + 0.07 cal/ g
Solve for the absolute uncertainty.

•8.) 54+ 0.86 %


•9.) 67 + 0.35 %
•10.) 89 + 0.9%
•The mean of the measurements
represents the best estimate.
•RANGE = H-L
•Uncertainty = R/ 2

•Measurement= mean + ½ R
Sample problem
During an experiment in physics laboratory class , a goup of
six students was asked to measure the height of the
cylinder . Their measurements were as follows: 5.25 cm,
5.27 cm, 5.26 cm , 5. 24 cm, 5.23 cm and 5.36 cm . What is
the height of the cylinder?
MEAN:
RANGE:
UNCERTAINTY:
MEASUREMENT:
• The following are the values obtained in
measuring the temperature of the room ; 31.0
˚c, 30.05 ˚c, 30.0˚c, 31.3 ˚c, 30.8 ˚c, 30.6 ˚c and
31.1 ˚c. What is the room temperature?
• MEAN
• RANGE
• UNCERTAINTY
• MEASUREMENT
SET TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2 TRIAL 3 TRIAL 4 TRIAL 5 TRIAL 6
A 15 s 18s 35 s 12s 34s 10s
B 38s 43s 21s 33s 34s 23s
C 24s 45s 12s 35s 24s 13s
• Solve for the value of the;
• MEAN
• RANGE
• UNCERTAINTY
• MEASUREMENT OF EACH SET.

You might also like