18 Answers: Accuracy and Precision of A Measurement

18 Answers
Chandra, part-time scientist

Answered May 6 2017 · Author has 161 answers and 201.2k answer views
Accuracy refers to the closeness of a measured value to a standard or known value. For
example, if in lab you obtain a weight measurement of 3.2 kg for a given substance, but the
actual or known weight is 10 kg, then your measurement is not accurate. In this case, your
measurement is not close to the known value.
Precision refers to the closeness of two or more measurements to each other. Using the
example above, if you weigh a given substance five times, and get 3.2 kg each time, then
your measurement is very precise. Precision is independent of accuracy. You can be very
precise but inaccurate, as described above. You can also be accurate but imprecise.
For example, if on average, your measurements for a given substance are close to the known
value, but the measurements are far from each other, then you have accuracy without
precision.
A good analogy for understanding accuracy and precision is to imagine a basketball player
shooting baskets.
If the player shoots with accuracy, his aim will always take the ball close to or into the
basket. If the player shoots with precision, his aim will always take the ball to the same
location which may or may not be close to the basket. A good player will be both accurate
and precise by shooting the ball the same way each time and each time making it in the
basket.
Accuracy and Precision of a Measurement
Science is based on observation and experiment—that is, on

measurements. Accuracy is how close a measurement is to the correct value for that
measurement. For example, let us say that you are measuring the length of standard
computer paper. The packaging in which you purchased the paper states that it is 11.0
inches long. You measure the length of the paper three times and obtain the following
measurements: 11.1 in., 11.2 in., and 10.9 in. These measurements are quite accurate
because they are very close to the correct value of 11.0 inches. In contrast, if you had
obtained a measurement of 12 inches, your measurement would not be very accurate.
The precision of a measurement system is refers to how close the agreement is

between repeated measurements (which are repeated under the same conditions).
Consider the example of the paper measurements. The precision of the measurements
refers to the spread of the measured values. One way to analyze the precision of the
measurements would be to determine the range, or difference, between the lowest and
the highest measured values. In that case, the lowest value was 10.9 in. and the highest
value was 11.2 in. Thus, the measured values deviated from each other by at most 0.3
in. These measurements were relatively precise because they did not vary too much in
value. However, if the measured values had been 10.9, 11.1, and 11.9, then the
measurements would not be very precise because there would be significant variation
from one measurement to another.
The measurements in the paper example are both accurate and precise, but in some
cases, measurements are accurate but not precise, or they are precise but not
accurate. Let us consider an example of a GPS system that is attempting to locate the
position of a restaurant in a city. Think of the restaurant location as existing at the center
of a bull’s-eye target, and think of each GPS attempt to locate the restaurant as a black
dot. In Figure 3, you can see that the GPS measurements are spread out far apart from
each other, but they are all relatively close to the actual location of the restaurant at the
center of the target. This indicates a low precision, high accuracy measuring system.
However, in Figure 4, the GPS measurements are concentrated quite closely to one
another, but they are far away from the target location. This indicates a high precision,
low accuracy measuring system.
Figure 3. A GPS system attempts to locate a restaurant at the center of the bull’s-eye. The black dots represent
each attempt to pinpoint the location of the restaurant. The dots are spread out quite far apart from one another,
indicating low precision, but they are each rather close to the actual location of the restaurant, indicating high
accuracy. (credit: Dark Evil)
Figure 4. In this figure, the dots are concentrated rather closely to one another, indicating high precision, but they
are rather far away from the actual location of the restaurant, indicating low accuracy. (credit: Dark Evil)
Accuracy, Precision, and Uncertainty
The degree of accuracy and precision of a measuring system are related to

the uncertainty in the measurements. Uncertainty is a quantitative measure of how
much your measured values deviate from a standard or expected value. If your
measurements are not very accurate or precise, then the uncertainty of your values will
be very high. In more general terms, uncertainty can be thought of as a disclaimer for
your measured values. For example, if someone asked you to provide the mileage on
your car, you might say that it is 45,000 miles, plus or minus 500 miles. The plus or
minus amount is the uncertainty in your value. That is, you are indicating that the actual
mileage of your car might be as low as 44,500 miles or as high as 45,500 miles, or
anywhere in between. All measurements contain some amount of uncertainty. In our
example of measuring the length of the paper, we might say that the length of the paper
is 11 in., plus or minus 0.2 in. The uncertainty in a measurement, A, is often denoted as
δA (“delta A”), so the measurement result would be recorded as A ± δA. In our paper
example, the length of the paper could be expressed as 11 in. ± 0.2.
The factors contributing to uncertainty in a measurement include:
1. Limitations of the measuring device,

2. The skill of the person making the measurement,
3. Irregularities in the object being measured,
4. Any other factors that affect the outcome (highly dependent on the situation).
In our example, such factors contributing to the uncertainty could be the following: the
smallest division on the ruler is 0.1 in., the person using the ruler has bad eyesight, or
one side of the paper is slightly longer than the other. At any rate, the uncertainty in a
measurement must be based on a careful consideration of all the factors that might
contribute and their possible effects.

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18 Answers

Chandra, part-time scientist

Accuracy and Precision of a Measurement

Science is based on observation and experiment—that is, on

The precision of a measurement system is refers to how close the agreement is

The degree of accuracy and precision of a measuring system are related to

The factors contributing to uncertainty in a measurement include:

1. Limitations of the measuring device,

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