Percent uncertainty for noobs (like me)

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    Percent Uncertainty
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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on calculating percent uncertainty for the value 1.56 in the context of physics. The user inquires about the appropriate uncertainty value to use, initially suggesting 0.01 but later considering 0.005 based on significant figures. The correct approach involves using the uncertainty that reflects the precision of the measurement, which is 0.005 for three significant figures. The conversation highlights the importance of understanding significant figures and their role in determining uncertainty in measurements.

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  • Study significant figures and their impact on measurement accuracy
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  • Review introductory physics resources on measurement and uncertainty
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Students new to physics, educators teaching measurement concepts, and anyone looking to improve their understanding of uncertainty in scientific measurements.

Sin0
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I KNOW this is going to be a very basic question for most of you but I am new to PF which seems awesome by the way and generally new too physics too. My question that my teacher went over on the practice questions for home was determine the percent uncertainty of the number 1.56.


I know from working with this before and my few but awful attempts to solve this and look up a way how to do it but since we are using 3 significant figures would I use 0.01 as my uncertain value divide it by 1.56 and multiply it by 100. I tried this and I was wrong and i can't seem to find out why if you could tell me how to go about this question and what number I would use as my uncertain value and why that would be great :)
Thanks
 
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I think you are supposed to use 0.005 as the uncertainty, but really, your answer is somewhat reasonable.
 
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