PHY 112: Measurement in Physics

ISSAHAKU SONTAA JAKALIA

isontaa@[Link]/isontaaa@[Link]/isjakalia@[Link]
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ERROR ANALYSIS
 RPK 2: 15 mins 07/02/2023
Evaluate the following and round them to the correct
number of significant digits.

a. 39.61 – 17.3 f. 5 x 3.999

b. 1.97 + 2.700 g. 84  .09
c. 100.8 – 45 h. 215.7 x .815
d. 296.0 + 3.9876 i. 200 + 23
e. 4.7929  4.9 j. 200 x 12
 INTRODUCTION
• In making physical measurements, one needs to keep
in mind that measurements are not completely
accurate.
• Each measurement will have some number of
significant figures and should also have some
indication as to how much we can "trust“ eg.
(38.20.01)C
• Thus in order to reliably interpret experimental data,
we need to have some idea as to the nature of the
"errors" associated with the measurements.
• Error is not a blunder such as
forgetting to position the decimal point in right place,
using the wrong units,
transposing numbers,
or any other mistake.
• Error is not your lab partner breaking your equipment.
• Error has to do with uncertainty in measurements.
• Therefore, even accepted values also have errors associated
with them; they are just better measurements than you will
be able to do in a three-hour undergraduate physics lab.
 Why are errors important?
Two measurements of body temperature before and
after a drug is administered are 38.2C and 38.4C

Is temperature rise significant? –

 It depends on the associated errors

(38.20.01)C and (38.4 0.01)C - significant

(38.20.5)C and (38.4 0.5)C – not significant

 DEFINITION OF ERROR
Error in a measurement, what is it?

• In science, the word “error” means the “uncertainty”

which accompanies every measurement

• It is a measure of lack of certainty in a measured value

• It is the difference between the measured value and the
true value of the physical quantity.
 DEFINITION OF ERROR
The uncertainty is the result of :
theoretical prediction measurement
by a sophisticated instrument
average evaluated from a very large number of
measurement

A discrepancy on the other hand is the difference

between two measured values of a physical quantity.
 ERRORS
Errors can be divided into two (2) main classes
namely;

• Random errors
• Systematic errors
 MISTAKES

Mistakes on the part of an individual such as

misreading scales
poor arithmetic and computational skills
wrongly transferring raw data to the final report
using the wrong theory and equations
These are a source of error but are not considered as
an experimental error
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
Systematic errors are associated with instruments or
the technique used.
• This error is due to the system or apparatus being
used

• Eg. A student read this length as 20 cm

 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS
• Cause a random set of measurements to be affected
in the same way

• It is not always possible to obtain a numerical value

for systematic errors for a single measurements,
however, we can identify the causes for which your
measured value differs from the accepted one
 SYSTEMATIC ERRORS RESULT FROM
Badly made instruments
Poorly calibrated instruments
Lag time and hysteresis
An instrument having a zero error, a form of
calibration
Poorly timed actions
Instrument parallax error
Note that systematic errors are not reduced by
multiple readings
 RANDOM ERRORS

• Random Errors result from unknown and

unpredictable variations in experimental
situations.
• Are due to unpredictable variations in
performance of the instrument and the operator
• usually random errors are caused by the person
doing the experiment
Random Errors result from
• Vibrations and air convection
• Misreading
• Variation in thickness of surface being measured
• Using less sensitive instrument when a more
sensitive instrument is available
Random Errors result from
• Using less sensitive instrument when a more
sensitive instrument is available
• Human parallax error
• Such as fluctuation in electrical voltage
• Changes in temperature, pressure, etc
 Reducing the Effects of Random Uncertainties
• Take multiple readings
• When a series of readings are taken for a
measurement, then the arithmetic mean of the
reading is taken as the most probable answer
• The greatest deviation from the mean is taken as the
absolute error
 Accuracy
In measurement, What is accuracy?
• Accuracy is an indication of how close a measurement
is to the accepted value indicated by the relative or
percentage error in the measurement

• An accurate experiment is one that has a low

systematic error, where as a precise experiment is one
that has a small random error.
 Precision
What about precision?
• Precision is an indication of the agreement
among a number of measurements made in the
same way indicated by the absolute error

• A precise experiment has a low random error

Bull’s eye game
Accurate, not precise
Precise, not accurate
• Low systematic error
• High systematic error
• High random error
• Low random error

Neither Accurate nor precise Accurate and precise

• High systematic error • Low systematic error
• High random error • Low random error
 Mathematical representation of uncertainties
• Absolute error (Absolute uncertainty) –
It is the magnitude of difference between true value
of quantity and the measurement value.

Absolute Error;
∆𝐴𝑒 = 𝑌𝑛 − 𝑋𝑛
where 𝑌𝑛 is the expected value and 𝑋𝑛 is the
measured value
 Mathematical representation of uncertainties

• Relative error (Fractional uncertainty)–

The ratio of absolute error to the true value of the
physical quantity is called relative error.

Relative Error;
𝑌𝑛 − 𝑋𝑛 ∆𝐴𝑒
∆𝑅𝑒 = =
𝑌𝑛 𝑌𝑛
 Mathematical representation of uncertainties

• Percentage error (Percentage Uncertainty) –

It is the expression of the relative error as a
percentage

Percentage Error

𝑌𝑛 − 𝑋𝑛
∆𝑃𝑒 = × 100% = ∆𝑅𝑒 × %
𝑌𝑛
 ABSOLUTE/FRACTIONAL ERRORS AND
PERCENTAGE ERRORS
• A measured value should include an estimate of the
level of confidence associated with the value and
express as;

𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
= 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 ± 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡

Eg. Length of table 𝐿 = 3. 25 ± 0.02 𝑐𝑚

 Example:
If the mass of a body is (20.0 ± 0.2) kg.

1. Determine;
i. The absolute uncertainty
ii. The relative uncertainty
iii. Percentage uncertainty

2. Express the mass in terms of the relative and

percentage uncertainties
 Solution
We can express
• absolute uncertainty = ± 0.2 𝑘𝑔
0.2
• relative uncertainty = = ±0.01
20

• Percentage uncertainty = 0.01 × 100% = 1%

So mass of a body = 20.00 ± 0.01 kg or 20 kg ± 1%

 ESTIMATING RANDOM ERRORS
• When multiple readings are taking in an experiment to
reduce the random errors, an average or mean needs
to be calculated.
• The absolute uncertainty is then calculated using
statistical method
• The standard deviation is the estimate of the absolute
uncertainty in each measurement
 ESTIMATING RANDOM ERRORS
• For a set of 𝑛 measurements 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , 𝑥3 , … , 𝑥𝑛 the
mean, 𝑥,ҧ is give by
𝑛
1
𝑥ҧ = ෍ 𝑥𝑖
𝑛
𝑖=1

where 𝑛 is the total number of measurements taking

The standard deviation 𝜎𝑥 is calculated as

σ 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥ҧ 2
𝜎𝑥 =
𝑁−1
The uncertainty in the mean

𝜎𝑥
𝜎𝑥ҧ =
𝑁
 STEPS
1. Take multiple measurement
2. Calculate the mean value of the measurement
3. Find the standard deviation of each measurement
from the mean
4. Square each deviation, add the squares, and
divide by this N-1
5. Take the square root of this answer. You now have
the standard deviation
6. Divide by 𝑁, where 𝑁 is the number of
measurements
For a set of 4 measurements taking at the lab
𝐿𝑖 𝐿𝑖 − 𝐿ത 𝐿𝑖 − 𝐿ത 2 𝑐𝑚2
27.7 0.2 0.04
27.1 0.4 0.16
27.8 0.3 0.09
27.5 0.0 0.00
𝐿ത = 27.5
෍ 𝐿𝑖 − 𝐿ത 2 = 0.29

σ 𝑥𝑖 − 𝑥ҧ 2
𝜎𝐿 = = 0.3 cm
𝑁−1
𝜎𝑥
𝜎𝐿ത = = 0.2 cm
𝑁
𝐿ത = 27.5 ± 0.2 cm
 ERROR PROPAGATION
• Error propagation is the process of determining the
uncertainty of an answer obtained from a
calculation.
• Eg. Estimating the error associated with Area of an
object from the measurement of length and width of
the object; 𝐴 = 𝐿 × 𝑊
• The maximum possible error in the resultant
quantity can be computed as follows provided the
errors are dependent
 ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION OF UNCERTAINTIES
When the quantities add or subtract to give the final answer
then the absolute Uncertainty adds
• If 𝐴, 𝐵 are two quantities and

𝑍 = 𝐴 + 𝐵 or 𝑍 = 𝐴 − 𝐵
where ∆𝐴, ∆𝐵, ∆𝑍 are uncertainties in 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝑍 respectively

then
∆𝑍 = ∆𝐴 + ∆𝐵
 Example

Two bodies have masses

𝑚1 = (20.0 ± 0.2) 𝑘𝑔 and

𝑚2 = (30.0 + 0.4) 𝑘𝑔.

Determine the total mass; 𝑀, of these bodies?

 Solution
Total Mass M = 𝑚1 + 𝑚2
M = 20.0 + 30.0 = 50.0 𝑘𝑔

Absolute uncertainty ∆𝑀 = ∆𝑚1 + ∆𝑚2

, ∆𝑀 = 0.2 + 0.4 = 0.6

The total Mass;

M = 50.0 ± 0.6 𝑘𝑔
 MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION OF UNCERTAINTIES
When the quantities multiplies or divides to give the final answer then the
relative or fractional experimental uncertainty adds
𝐴
If 𝐴, 𝐵 are two quantities and 𝑍 = 𝐴. 𝐵 or 𝑍 =
𝐵
where ∆𝐴, ∆𝐵, ∆𝑍 are uncertainties in 𝐴, 𝐵, 𝑍 respectively

then
∆𝑍 ∆𝐴 ∆𝐵
= +
𝑍 𝐴 𝐵

The last significant figure digit in the final answer is limited by the absolute
error and vice versa depending on the available information.
 Example
The length; 𝑙 and breath; 𝑏 of a rectangular field is
given as 𝑙 = (200 ± 5) 𝑚 and 𝑏 = (50 ± 2) 𝑚.
Calculate the area and determine its relative error?
 Solution
The relative error;
∆𝐴 ∆𝑙 ∆𝑏
= +
𝐴 𝑙 𝑏
∆𝐴 5 2
= + = ±0.056 = ±0.06 𝑚
𝐴 200 50