Institute of Engineering and Technology
J K Lakshmipat University
Jaipur 302026 Rajasthan INDIA
Subject: AS1108 Applied Physics Instructors: Dr. Mahesh Kumar Yadav
Dr. H.P. Agrawal
Assignment #1 Uncertainty Analysis Due date: Feb 07, 2025 (Friday)
Note: The assignment must be handwritten and submitted on A4 size sheets.
5% marks penalty per day will be levied on late submission. This will be strictly followed
without any excuse.
Copying/ cheating in any form is strictly unacceptable and will be dealt as per institute policy.
Q-1. Find out the measured value, least count, and uncertainty in the measurement for the
figures given below:
Q-2. If 𝑤 = (4.50 ± 0.02) cm, 𝐴 = (2.0 ± 0.2) cm2, 𝑦 = (3.0 ± 0.6) cm, then find the value of 𝑍
and its uncertainty. Given that
(a) 𝑍(𝑤, 𝑦) = 𝑤 + 𝑦
(b) 𝑍(𝑤, 𝑦) = 𝑤 − 𝑦
(c) 𝑍(𝐴, 𝑤, 𝑦) = 𝑤𝑦 2 ⁄√𝐴
(d) 𝑍(𝐴, 𝑤, 𝑦) = 𝑤𝐴 + 𝑦 2
Q-3. The sides of a rectangle are measured to be 15.3 cm and 9.6 cm. Each length has an
uncertainty of 0.07 cm. Calculate measured area of the rectangle and its uncertainty.
Institute of Engineering and Technology
J K Lakshmipat University
Jaipur 302026 Rajasthan INDIA
Q-4. What is the density of a material and the maximum possible uncertainty if 𝑚 = 12.4 kg
and 𝑉 = 6.68 m3?
Q-5. A digital thermometer reads 37.0°C±0.1°C for a liquid temperature. The liquid’s actual
temperature is known to be 37.2°C. What is the absolute error and relative error in the
measurement?
Q-6. An accelerating object has an initial speed of 𝑢 = (12.4 ± 0.1) m/s and a final speed of
𝑣 = (28.8 ± 0.2) m/s. The time interval for this change in speed is ∆𝑡 = (4.2 ± 0.1) s.
Acceleration is defined as 𝑎 = (𝑣 − 𝑢) /∆𝑡 m/s2. Calculate the acceleration and its
uncertainty.
Q-7. If you take 20 independent measurements of a quantity with an uncertainty of ±0.3,
what will be the uncertainty in the mean value of these measurements?
Q-8. A quantity follows a normal distribution with a mean of 10 and standard deviation of 2.
What is the probability (known as probability density) that a measurement falls
between 8 and 12? You can use the following formula to find out the approximate
probability density:
1 1 𝑥−𝜇 2
− ( )
𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑒 2 𝜎
𝜎√2𝜋
Alternately, a more accurate value of probability can be found using the formula:
Where
erf is error function. You can use table or an online calculator to find its value.
Q-9. A measurement is taken 100 times, and the mean is found to be 50±1. Assuming a
Gaussian distribution, calculate the 95% confidence interval for the measurement.
Use the following formula to find out the confidence interval:
𝜎
𝐶𝐼 = 𝜇 ± 𝑍𝛼/2 where 𝑍𝛼/2 corresponding to 95% confidence interval is 1.96.
√𝑁
Q-10. If a measurement has a standard deviation of 5 and a sample size of 25, calculate the
margin of error for a 99% confidence level.
𝜎
Margin of error = 𝑍𝛼/2 where 𝑍𝛼/2 corresponding to 99% confidence interval is 2.576.
√𝑁
Q-11. [Solve using EXCEL] Use the data set given in the excel sheet to find out the uncertainty,
margin of error, and 95% confidence interval using the Gaussian distribution.
