GENERAL PHYSICS 1

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LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET 4

ESTIMATING ERRORS USING VARIANCE

Background Information for the Learners (BIL)

Errors in measurement does not refer to mistakes but has come to mean
the uncertainty in a quantity. It is usually appended in a quantity with ± sign.

For example, you were asked to measure the length of the table and you
got a measure of 1.5 m long, do you think your measurement is exactly 1.5 m?

You cannot say that the exact measure is 1.5 m because there will always
be some degree of uncertainty in the process of measurement. So in the
expression (1.500+0.001) m tells not only that the table is 1.5m long but may
probably between 1.499 m and 1.501 m. How do you estimate an error from
multiple measurements of a physical quantity using variance?

Variance (σ2 ) is the average of the squared difference of the

measurements ( x ) from the mean (𝑋̅) . In symbols ,

̅ )2
∑(𝑥−𝑋
𝜎2 = 𝑁

where : σ = variance
N = is the number of measurements
x = given measurements
𝑋̅ = mean
The square root of the variance is called the standard deviation (σ)

̅ )2
∑(𝑥−𝑋
𝜎 = √𝜎2 = √
𝑁

A standard deviation close to zero indicates that the data points are close
to the mean. High standard deviation indicates that the measurements are
spread out over a wide range of values.
An example below shows how variance is being defined.
Five students measured the diagonal length of the blackboard. The
following are the data of their measurements, Student A measured it as 2.54
m, Student B as 2.46 m, Student C as 2.65 m, Student D as 2.55 m and Student
E as 2.39 m. Find the variance and standard deviation of the measurements.
Express also the average measurement in a form that includes uncertainty.
Solution:
First, compute for the mean or average of the measurements
∑𝑥
𝑋̅=
𝑁
𝟐.𝟓𝟒𝒎+𝟐.𝟒𝟔𝒎+𝟐.𝟔𝟓𝒎+𝟐.𝟓𝟓𝒎+𝟐.𝟑𝟗𝒎
=
𝟓

̅ = 𝟐. 𝟓𝟐 𝒎
𝑿
Then, make a table for the calculation of deviations (𝒙 − ̅𝑿
) and square of
deviations (𝒙 − ̅𝑿
)𝟐 for each measurement .

STUDENT X ̅)
(𝒙 − 𝑿 ̅ )2
(𝒙 − 𝑿
1 2.54 m 0.02 m 0.00040 m2
2 2.46 m - 0.06 m 0.00336 m2
3 2.65 m 0.13 m 0.01690 m2
4 2.55 m 0.03 m 0.00090 m2
5 2.39 m - 0.13 m 0.01690 m2
𝚺 (𝒙 − ̅𝑿)𝟐 0.03846 m2
 ̅ )2
To find the variance , get the mean of (𝒙 − 𝑿
̅ )𝟐
∑(𝒙−𝑿
𝝈𝟐 = 𝑵
=

σ2 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟕𝟔𝟗𝟐 m2

Next , get the standard deviation by getting the square root of the variance,

𝝈 = √𝛔𝟐 = √𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟕𝟔𝟗𝟐𝒎𝟐

= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟖𝟖 𝒎, this means that if another student measures the diagonal
length of the board , his new measurement will be within 0.088 m of the
average measured length of 2.5 m.
You can also estimate the standard error of the mean by dividing the
standard deviation with the square root of the number of measurements done.

𝝈
𝑺𝑬𝑴 =
√𝑵
𝟎.𝟎𝟖𝟖 𝒎
=
√𝟓

= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟗 𝒎
Then, the average measurement can be written in the following form :

average measurement = 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 ± 𝑺𝑬𝑴 = mean +SEM

average measurement = 𝟐. 𝟓𝟐 ± 𝟎. 𝟎𝟑𝟗
The following activities are provided to help you master how to estimate
errors of a physical quantity using variance and standard deviation.

Learning Competency:

Estimate errors from multiple measurements of a physical quantity using

variance (STEM_GP12EU-Ia-5)
Activity 1: CHOOSE THE BEST
Directions : Select the correct answer . Write the letter only.

1. Which of the following refers to the average of all the numbers in the
data set ?
A. mean B. median C. mode D. variance
2. Which of the following statements about variance is correct?
A. Variance measures how close each number in the set is from the
mean.
B. Variance describes the difference between the measurement and
the actual value.
C. Variance is the average of the squared difference of the
measurement from the mean
D. Variance is the square root of standard deviation
3. The scores obtained by six students are : ( 45 , 32 , 46 , 39 ,36 , 48)
Find the mean .
A. 40 B. 41 C. 42 D. 43
4. Find the variance of the following set of data ( 2.44 m , 2.36 m ,
2.48m , 2.35 m , 2.59 m )
A. 0.00 7701 m2 C. 0.00 77 03m2
B. 0.00 7702 m2 D. 0.00 7704 m2
5. How do you estimate the standard error of the mean ?
𝝈 𝝈
A. 𝑺𝑬𝑴 = C. 𝑺𝑬𝑴 = xy
√𝑵 √𝑵

𝝈 𝝈
B. 𝑺𝑬𝑴 = x2 D. 𝑺𝑬𝑴 = y2
√𝑵 √𝑵
Activity 2: WHAT IS THE FORMULA?
Directions: Give the formula of the following quantities. Write your answer on
the table below.

QUANTITY FORMULA
1. VARIANCE
2. STANDARD DEVIATION

3. STANDARD ERROR OF THE

MEAN
4. MEAN

Activity 3: HELP ME FIND THE STANDARD DEVIATION

Directions: Calculate the standard deviation of the given problem

The following are the test scores of Janelle in all of her subjects.
English - 45
Math - 42
Science – 48
Filipino - 50
AP - 47
PE - 50
TLE - 43
VALUES - 44
Find the standard deviation of the test scores Record your answer on the table
below:

SUBJECTS X ̅)
(𝒙 − 𝑿 ̅ )2
(𝒙 − 𝑿
1
2
3
4
5
6.
7.
8.

A. Mean :
B. N :
C. Variance :
D. Standard Deviation :
E. What does the result of your standard deviation mean?
Activity 4: FIND THE VARIANCE
Directions: Read , understand and analyze the problems very carefully.
Then, solve and show your complete solutions:

1. The heights in cm of students in a class are 163 , 167 , 158 , 174 , 148 .
Find the variance.

2. Ten students took their practical exam in Science. Out of 50 items ,they
obtained the following scores 44 ,49 42 , 25 , 29 , 21 , 39 , 40, 47 , 45 .
What is the variance of their scores ?

3. If the standard deviation of a sample is given to be 62.5 then find its

variance.

Activity 5: CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

Directions: Answer the following questions

1. Why is variance important?

2. How do we compute a variance?

3. What is the difference between variance and standard deviation?

Reflection:

1. I learned that

2. I enjoyed most on

3. I want to learn more on

 References

Arevalo , Ryan L. General Physics 1 DIWA Learning System Inc. ,2007

https://www..science buddies.org-variance and

standard deviation
https://www.slideshare.net.variance and
standard deviation www.wikipedia.com

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