Halliday Resnick Krane Example Problem: Uncertainty on Weighing Machine

[jbriggs444]

So, which type of error is included when absolute uncertainty is specified for a measuring device?

Up until now, we have been focusing on a situation where the only source of error was our ability to read the result from the gauge. Alternately, we have been focusing on a situation where the granularity of the lines on the gauge is our only hint as to the accuracy of the device.

Now you ask about a situation where someone has told us the uncertainty of the device. That uncertainty could include error from various sources. Systematic error, random error, quantization error, whatever.

If all we are given is an uncertainty range (for instance a maximum error bar), we do not know what sort of errors to expect, what kind of error distribution to expect or how the errors might correlate between different measurements.