Dividing Error Constant
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or more quantities, each with their individual uncertainties, and then combine the information from these quantities in order to come up with a final result of our experiment. How can you state your answer for the combined result of these measurements and their uncertainties scientifically? The answer to this error propagation dividing by a constant fairly common question depends on how the individual measurements are combined in the result. We will error propagation division by a constant treat each case separately: Addition of measured quantities If you have measured values for the quantities X, Y, and Z, with uncertainties dX, dY,
Error Propagation Division
and dZ, and your final result, R, is the sum or difference of these quantities, then the uncertainty dR is: Here the upper equation is an approximation that can also serve as an upper bound for the error. Please
Dividing Uncertainties
note that the rule is the same for addition and subtraction of quantities. Example: Suppose we have measured the starting position as x1 = 9.3+-0.2 m and the finishing position as x2 = 14.4+-0.3 m. Then the displacement is: Dx = x2-x1 = 14.4 m - 9.3 m = 5.1 m and the error in the displacement is: (0.22 + 0.32)1/2 m = 0.36 m Multiplication of measured quantities In the same way as for sums and differences, we can error propagation calculator also state the result for the case of multiplication and division: Again the upper line is an approximation and the lower line is the exact result for independent random uncertainties in the individual variables. And again please note that for the purpose of error calculation there is no difference between multiplication and division. Example: We have measured a displacement of x = 5.1+-0.4 m during a time of t = 0.4+-0.1 s. What is the average velocity and the error in the average velocity? v = x / t = 5.1 m / 0.4 s = 12.75 m/s and the uncertainty in the velocity is: dv = |v| [ (dx/x)2 + (dt/t)2 ]1/2 = 12.75 m/s [(0.4/5.1)2 + (0.1/0.4)2]1/2 = 3.34 m/s Multiplication with a constant What if you have measured the uncertainty in an observable X, and you need to multiply it with a constant that is known exactly? What is the error then? This is easy: just multiply the error in X with the absolute value of the constant, and this will give you the error in R: If you compare this to the above rule for multiplication of two quantities, you see that this is just the special case of that rule for the uncertainty in c, dc = 0. Example: If an object is realeased from rest and is in free fall, and if you measure the velocity of this object at so
would be your guess: can an American Corvette get away if chased by an Italian police Lamborghini?
The top speed of the CorvetteError Propagation Physics
is 186 mph ± 2 mph. The top speed of the Lamborghini Gallardo error propagation square root is 309 km/h ± 5 km/h. We know that 1 mile = 1.61 km. In order to convert the speed of error propagation chemistry the Corvette to km/h, we need to multiply it by the factor of 1.61. What should we do with the error? Well, you've learned in the previous section that when you multiply two quantities, http://lectureonline.cl.msu.edu/~mmp/labs/error/e2.htm you add their relative errors. The relative error on the Corvette speed is 1%. However, the conversion factor from miles to kilometers can be regarded as an exact number.1 There is no error associated with it. Its relative error is 0%. Thus the relative error on the Corvette speed in km/h is the same as it was in mph, 1%. (adding relative errors: 1% + 0% = 1%.) It https://phys.columbia.edu/~tutorial/propagation/tut_e_4_3.html means that we can multiply the error in mph by the conversion constant just in the same way we multiply the speed. So our answer for the maximum speed of the Corvette in km/h is: 299 km/h ± 3 km/h. Now we are ready to answer the question posed at the beginning in a scientific way. The highest possible top speed of the Corvette consistent with the errors is 302 km/h. The lowest possible top speed of the Lamborghini Gallardo consistent with the errors is 304 km/h. Bad news for would-be speedsters on Italian highways. No way can you get away from that police car. The rule we discussed in this chase example is true in all cases involving multiplication or division by an exact number. You simply multiply or divide the absolute error by the exact number just as you multiply or divide the central value; that is, the relative error stays the same when you multiply or divide a measured value by an exact number. << Previous Page Next Page >> 1 For this example, we are regarding the conversion 1 mile = 1.61 km as exact. Actually, the conversion factor has more significant digits. Home - Credits - Feedback © Columbia University
just how much the measured value is likely to deviate from the unknown, true, value of the quantity. The art of estimating these deviations should probably be http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~labgroup/pdf/Error_analysis.htm called uncertainty analysis, but for historical reasons is referred to as error analysis. This document contains brief discussions about how errors are reported, the kinds of errors that can occur, how to estimate random errors, and how to carry error estimates into calculated results. We are not, and will not be, concerned with the “percent error” exercises common in high school, where the student is content with calculating error propagation the deviation from some allegedly authoritative number. Significant figures Whenever you make a measurement, the number of meaningful digits that you write down implies the error in the measurement. For example if you say that the length of an object is 0.428 m, you imply an uncertainty of about 0.001 m. To record this measurement as either 0.4 or 0.42819667 would imply that you only know it to 0.1 by a constant m in the first case or to 0.00000001 m in the second. You should only report as many significant figures as are consistent with the estimated error. The quantity 0.428 m is said to have three significant figures, that is, three digits that make sense in terms of the measurement. Notice that this has nothing to do with the "number of decimal places". The same measurement in centimeters would be 42.8 cm and still be a three significant figure number. The accepted convention is that only one uncertain digit is to be reported for a measurement. In the example if the estimated error is 0.02 m you would report a result of 0.43 ± 0.02 m, not 0.428 ± 0.02 m. Students frequently are confused about when to count a zero as a significant figure. The rule is: If the zero has a non-zero digit anywhere to its left, then the zero is significant, otherwise it is not. For example 5.00 has 3 significant figures; the number 0.0005 has only one significant figure, and 1.0005 has 5 significant figures. A number like 300 is not well defined. Rather one should write 3 x 102, one significant figure, or 3.00 x 102, 3 significant f