Chapter 2.3, Problem 48SSC

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Whether the measurements are accurate or precise needs to be determined.

Concept introduction:

Accuracy is the measure of a degree of closeness of the measured value to its actual value while precision is a measure of a reproducibility of a set of measurements. Accuracy depends on the person measuring while the precision value depends on measuring tool.

Answer to Problem 48SSC

The given measurements values of the object are accurate and not precise.

Explanation of Solution

The measurements of the length are given as $\text{76}\text{.48}\text{cm,}\text{76}\text{.47}\text{cm}\text{and}\text{76}\text{.59}\text{cm}$. The measurements are considered to be accurate since the actual length of the object, $\text{76}\text{.49}\text{cm}$ is between all of the values. Two values of the measurement are slightly different from the actual value. One of the three values is higher and is close enough to be considered as accurate. The values of the measurements are not precise because one value is higher than the other two values.

Conclusion

The given measurements values of the object are accurate and not precise.