What is Accuracy: Definition and 233 Discussions

In a set of measurements, accuracy is closeness of the measurements to a specific value, while precision is the closeness of the measurements to each other.
Accuracy has two definitions:

More commonly, it is a description of systematic errors, a measure of statistical bias; low accuracy causes a difference between a result and a "true" value. ISO calls this trueness.
Alternatively, ISO defines accuracy as describing a combination of both types of observational error above (random and systematic), so high accuracy requires both high precision and high trueness.Precision is a description of random errors, a measure of statistical variability.
In simpler terms, given a set of data points from repeated measurements of the same quantity, the set can be said to be accurate if their average is close to the true value of the quantity being measured, while the set can be said to be precise if the values are close to each other. In the first, more common definition of "accuracy" above, the two concepts are independent of each other, so a particular set of data can be said to be either accurate, or precise, or both, or neither.

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  1. S

    B Which science communicator do you find to maintain the most accuracy?

    Was watching a Sean Carroll video and his answers to some questions seemed to run counter to the norm. For example at 1:15:30 in the video, he seems to be saying that we'd see only a (hypothetical?) 'test particle' get stuck at the event horizon of a black hole. Also at 1:17:19 in the video...
  2. Govind

    I Measurement Error Analysis in Gaussian distribution

    I am new to statistics and recently learned about ISO guidelines for Accuracy & Precision and Uncertainty & Error. But there are some graphs of probability distribution I found on internet which I am not able to grasp. image Source Q. In this graph(above) if...
  3. RobbyQ

    I What is the accuracy of parking spacecraft into Lagrange points?

    I often wonder what the accuracy is when dealing with spacecraft and wondered how accurate a craft needs to be positioned into the Lagrange (L1,L2,L3) positions. Are we talking plus or minus 1km/100km/1000km etc. It's just that the system is so vast and what instruments are used to achieve a...
  4. Conn_coord

    I Measurement accuracy or variation

    I find the values of the fundamental constants here https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/ In anticipation of the data of 2022, I want to clarify one point. Planck's constant is related by an exact expression to some other fundamental quantities: $$h = \frac{\alpha^2 m_e с^2}{2R_c}\qquad (1)$$...
  5. tomceka

    How does the accuracy of the clock change when the spring stretches?

    A longer pendulum swings slower. So changing the length l of the pendulum changes the period T, which affects the timekeeping accuracy. But the problem is talking about the body on the spring, not the string. So the second formula cannot be applied here directly and I don't know how to progress...
  6. shivajikobardan

    Why did I get different accuracy for different algorithms?

    Here are the codes(not all might be present, take it with grain of salt). https://github.com/prabesh-regmi/Employee-Promotion-Prediction
  7. H

    A What is the achievable accuracy of neutrino speed measurement?

    Is the accuracy of 10^-12 s achievable in measuring a neutrino's speed with current experiments? I have come across a number of papers stating the accuracy is in the order of nanoseconds. This is much lower accuracy than the measured speed of photons. I believe it is due to the difficulties in...
  8. F

    How to select the required accuracy of an instrument?

    If I need to make a measurement to check compliance e.g. measuring component dimensions. How do I know what accuracy is required for the measuring instrument if the tolerance is not specified? For example, during an engine rebuild, the manufacturer specifies the valve stem diameter to be...
  9. F

    Instrument accuracy and comparison measurements

    Hello, All measurement instruments have a finite accuracy. For example, a thermometer may provide a temperature measurement that is +-2F from the "actual" and true temp value. For example, if the reported measurement is 70F, the actual temperature may be between 72F and 68F. That said, let's...
  10. mcastillo356

    B Accuracy of a smith's crafted metal disc

    The area of a circular disc with radius ##r## is ##A=\pi r^2\;\mbox{cm}^2##. A smith must make a circular metal disc of ##400\pi\;\mbox{cm}^2## with an accuracy of ##\pm{5}\;\mbox{cm}^2##. Which accuracy range must have a ##20\;\mbox{cm}## disc? Answer The metal worker wants to obtain ##|\pi...
  11. C

    Did your DNA test results change when using a second company to do the test?

    Here's the story: I did the 23&Me and it told me that I was about 90% X but then there was among the smaller %ages a Y = French Later, about a year later, I checked it again. The French ancestry had disappeared. There was still 90% X, but now I had a Y = Scandinavia. So, I ran the test again...
  12. J

    I Accuracy of the Density of States

    I'm trying to understand the detailed concept of why the density of states formula is accurate enough to calculate the number of quantum states of an energy level, including degeneracy, within a small energy interval of ##dE##. The discrete energie levels are calculated by $$E = \frac{h^2 \cdot...
  13. G

    I Evaluating Accuracy of Dynamic Model for Spreading Disease

    I'm trying to dynamically model the scenario of a disease spreading across the population, modelling the number of cases, and I would love to hear your feedback. It's kinda different from the S-I-R model, and its also a crude model. First, we consider two numbers, NT and NA. NT is the total...
  14. LittleRookie

    B How is a Scientific law/theory's accuracy tested?

    How is a Scientific law or theory's accuracy tested? I've searched online about verification of Newton's law but the materials are unhelpful. Many show an experiment that verifies a particular instance of the law and then concludes the law is verified. We all know that there are infinite...
  15. L

    Accuracy of the Difference

    Me and some colleagues discussed accuracy of measurements. We didn't agree on how to treat the accuracy if two values are used to find the value, i.e. the difference between two values. Situation (explanation) The weight of a mass m of approximately 5 μg is to be scaled. The scale has an error...
  16. S

    I Can the LIGO observatories detect (with accuracy) temblors?

    With all the earthquakes going on in CA - and that the last one (7.1 mag) was strong enough to possibly trigger a small quake along the LA coast (i.e., as in LouisianA, not Los Angeles) - I was wondering about this. These instruments are so sensitive that they have to pick something up, even in...
  17. W

    I Tipler & Mosca on "accuracy"

    In the Tipler & Mosca textbook we are shown how numerical integration (the Euler's method species of it) is done using a spreadsheet program. The authors then go on to say on page 138 that the accuracy of this program can be estimated by first calculating the values for a time interval of 0.5s...
  18. BillTre

    FiveThirtyEight Assess their Accuracy

    This is a podcast and it can be found here. Basically, an interview of Nate Silver, the stat head behind FiveThirtyEight.com. They have made thousands of predictions on politics and sports (which they publish) and consider their competition to be betting sites and other modelers. Nate used to...
  19. J

    MHB Probability of Order Accuracy from A, C, or Not Accurate

    This is a problem I got for a review in probability and statistics The layout of the data is as follows: A B C D Order Accurate- 315 277 234 120 Order not - 34 50 35 18 accurate Like I said previously this is an or...
  20. M

    Is an Air Gap OK When Micropipetting? Biology Q&A

    Used a P100 to pipette 93.6 micro-litres of fluid. There was an air gap in the pipette tip the first time I did it but no air gap the second time. I'm assuming there shouldn't be an air gap but can somebody tell me for sure?
  21. C

    How does the phase noise of the LO effect IF accuracy?

    Hi, I have a roughly 1.1 GHz signal to be downconverted to 100 MHz by mixing it with a 1 GHz local oscillator. I am not sure how to choose the performance of the LO. In particular: let's assume the LO has a jitter of 100 fs rms. At 1 GHz this corresponds to a frequency error of 100 kHz. Does...
  22. bland

    I Accuracy of time dilation measurement *in principle*

    Sorry that's the best wording for a title I could come up with. Anyhoo my question is one that I have wondered about for a long time, and I am prompted to post now after seeing this article on the new atomic clock. Let's assume that we have clocks that can measure time to an arbitrarily...
  23. P

    Compare Precision & Accuracy: Speed of Light Measurements

    Homework Statement Two different scientists measured the speed of light four times. Scientist A 3.80*108m/s 3.32*108m/s 3.10*108m/s 3.05*108m/s Average 3.32*108m/s Scientist B 2.90*108m/s 3.10*108m/s 3.24*108m/s 2.95*108m/s Average...
  24. A

    I Accuracy of the Normal Approximation to Binomial

    What is the preferred method of measuring how accurate the normal approximation to the binomial distribution is? I know that the rule of thumb is that the expected number of successes and failures should both be >5 for the approximation to be adequate. But what is a useful definition of...
  25. J

    I Looking for a cheap digital scale with accuracy <1 g

    I currently have a cheap digital scale that will measure, say, from 1 g and beyond to the hundredth place with reasonable accuracy, but for anything less than a gram, it is erratic. For example, when I'm adding 0.15 g of a chemical, sometimes the value will change but often it will not and...
  26. W

    Length of time needed to measure digital clock accuracy

    On a piece of equipment, I purchased new, the digital clock ran slow. The second digital clock that was installed ran slow---it lost approximately 4.1 minutes in one month. Below is what I sent the Service Manager who I understand thinks it is possible to test the newly installed clock...
  27. A

    Determine acclimation time for metals

    A little background: Inspection room is kept at 20 C +/-2 C. Temperature gauge is accurate to +/-.5 C. Outside ambient temperature where parts are kept can vary from 5 C to 38 C. One part in particular is a rotor made of 4340 steel, ~2350mm long, average diameter of 115mm, and weighs ~ 650lbs...
  28. J

    I Determining the accuracy of the Variational Method

    The Variational Method allows us to obtain an upper bound on energy of the ground state (and sometimes excited states). Is there any way of determining an upper bound on the error of the energy obtained by the variational method without an analytic or numerical solution to the problem? i.e. Is...
  29. J

    Measuring 800V AC signal with 16-bit DAQ card within 1% accuracy

    I'm trying to measure high voltages with a DAQ card. Obviously I'm going to have to attenuate the voltage, but I need to make sure that I can measure accurately (within 1%) The code width of the DAQ is Vcw = 20Vpp/2^16 = 305.176uV For this code width to be within 1%, the minimum voltage I...
  30. P

    Accuracy of Stirlings Formula

    Homework Statement How big must N be for the simple version of stirlings formula to be accurate to within 2% Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution So I think the starting point is ##\frac{N lnN-N}{lnN!} =\alpha ## where ##\alpha=0.98## But i have no idea how to solve this expression...
  31. A

    B Quick Question about emitted radiation and Geiger counter accuracy

    Hi everyone. I read from: https://www.nucleonica.com/Applet/NaturalRA/Button5/page5.html that inside the human body, 4400 of K40 atoms disintegrate every second through radioactive decay. Of this decay, 11% (480) results in gamma radiation, and 50% of that 11% (240) escapes the body. My...
  32. Sebastiaan

    I Regarding the precision and accuracy of Atomic mass

    The website of CIAAW list the 2012 atomic mass in Daltons (Atomic Mass Units) and mention the atomic mass of stable isotopes followed by an additional number between braces. For example Helium-4: 4.002 603 2541(4) My first question is what does the number between braces mean? I assume it is some...
  33. alphaj

    Use math to prove which lab equipment was precise/accurate?

    Homework Statement We performed an experiment to see which laboratory glassware was more accurate and which was more precise. Question: (a): Which glassware was more precise and why? (b) Which glassware was more accurate and why? Use the calculations to support your statement. I won't post the...
  34. S

    Water level accuracy revisited

    Is there any difference in accuracy with using a resivoir vs just the tube? I want to acurately level the torque boxes on my car on jackstands so i can make frame measurements. Thanks
  35. Xilus

    NASA NASA Eclipse Calculations Accuracy

    How accurate do you think NASA's eclipse calculations are? Will that aircraft provide accurate moon trajectory?
  36. A

    B Accuracy of moon orbiting earth in how many days and hours

    Can anyone tell me accurately. accuracy of moon orbiting Earth in how many days and hours and seconds and if it is multiplied by 14 how much it will be in days. i need accurate answer. Thanks, Ahmed.
  37. bknock

    Thin slits and accuracy of Kirchhoff's diffraction formula

    Imagine a single slit with plane light waves incident on it with a screen (ideally far enough from the slits to simplify the math). According to Kirchhoff's diffraction formula, when a very wide slit is doubled, average intensity (averaged over all diffraction angles) doubles, and so does E_peak...
  38. U

    I Error in declination of linear regression

    During a lab exercise we measured different masses of a magnetic material on a scale while changing the strength of the magnetic field it was in. Afterwards we plotted the masses and the fieldstrength hoping to find a linear slope. Then we drew a linear slope by using linear regression and found...
  39. U

    I How to write measured value with error

    During a labexercise we measured a value to be 26.3 mT. The teslameter was said to have an accuracy at +- 0.05%. This means we measured 26.3 +- 0.0132mT. However we are supposed to write a measured value with it's error in the last digit. But the error is smaller than the smallest digit we got...
  40. N

    What is preventing me from achieving better accuracy for this delay?

    I have 2 PERFECT data of the transmitter and receiver. From 2 data, I can calculate the delay estimation: Fs = 8e6; % sample rate ... for i = 1:2 [cc_correlation,lag] = xcorr(signal2(i), signal1); [cc_maximum, cc_time] = max(abs(cc_correlation)); cc_estimation...
  41. B

    Power supply for multiple devices -- effects on accuracy

    Hi, For my project I am plotting a Force vs Displacement graph using 2 analog inputs which are going to a DAQ. The two analog inputs are coming from; -A 5k potentiometer (for the displacement) -A 1000 lb load cell sensor (for the force) I would like to use a regulated 12V DC (1Amp) power...
  42. E

    I On Wave Function Collapse and Accuracy of Energy Measurment

    I have a concern about having some wave function psi, that is originally a superposition of many eigenstates (energies). Traditionally, it is said that the square of the coefficient of each of the component eigenfunctions represents the probability of measuring this particular energy eigenstate...
  43. Crowxe

    I Relativity's "time dilation" or clock accuracy alteration

    i've seen the double slit experiment and the delayed choice . my mind rejected the conclusion, but the experiment setting and configuration of delayed choice is rational and holds water so i accepted the experiment outcome even if it means the world isn't real. i had to give that intro that...
  44. S

    Water level accuracy for squaring a car frame

    I have a 1968 Mustang that I bought at auction from my grandfather's estate it is almost completely apart and I want to rebuild it for him has sadly he ran out of time, I have a reproduction manual from 1968 with frame dimensions in it and some of the dimensions car vertical to a datum line. I...
  45. Jamison Lahman

    TDS2004B Oscilloscope Accuracy Determination

    Hello, I recently did the Franck-Hertz experiment (a short summary of the experiment can be found here http://inpp.ohiou.edu/~roche/3701_web/man-fh-a3b.pdf). I am currently doing data analysis and am having a hard time determining the accuracy of the oscilloscope, the Tektronix TDS2004B. I am...
  46. Deebu R

    B Why do arrows deviate from the target in archery?

    I was wondering why arrows deviate away from the target. If the arrow aimed at an object it usually lands above the object. Also if the mass of the arrow is increased it seems to get more and more accurate. Could someone explain why this happense?
  47. C

    B Accuracy in speed of photon - uncertainty?

    Hi there! I wanted to ask you, we know that light, photons have a certain fixed speed generally. Wouldn't this imply, considering Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, that the uncertainty for the speed (momentum) of the photons, should be infinite? But we know for sure, for example, that...
  48. S

    Maximum Theoretical Angular Accuracy of Planer arrays

    Hello,in this link http://dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a028054.pdf a paper „Maximum Theoretical Angular Accuracy of Planer and Linear Arrays of Sensors“ can be found.The accuracies are given in equations 19 (respect to the x axis) and 20 (respect to the y axis).My question is: Shall the angle...
  49. newjerseyrunner

    Accuracy of a stellar collision event

    I'm in the process of writing a story and the first few thousand words take place near the head-on collision between a ten mile wide black hole and a really big star. I describe the star as big enough to swallow the sun and barely burp. I'd like the events to be as close to accurate as...
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