Q&A for How to Calculate Uncertainty

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  • Question
    What is the actual definition of uncertainty?
    Donagan
    Donagan
    Top Answerer
    Uncertainty is the acknowledgement of the possibility of error during the physical act of making a measurement.
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  • Question
    When representing measurements on a graph, should I include errors too?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    The errors of your measurements are included as error bars on the graph. The error bars may be vertical or horizontal.
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  • Question
    Does uncertainty change when changing units?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    If you had a measurement of 83 ± 5 centimeters and you decided to change this to meters, then you'd to have to change the error, as well.
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  • Question
    How do I find percentage uncertainty?
    Technist
    Technist
    Community Answer
    Percentage uncertainty is the same as the relative uncertainties described in the article above. You find it by dividing the uncertainty by the actual measurement to obtain a percentage.
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  • Question
    How do I calculate uncertainty of measurements?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    It depends on the Least Count (LC) of the equipment you are using. For experiment-grade equipment, the manufacturer will provide this value. If this value is unknown, the Least Count of the equipment is used for that.
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