Physics
Physics
Problem
A laboratory thermometer is known to give the true value of the boiling point of water as when perfectly calibrated. A student, however, records the boiling point as . (i) Calculate the absolute error in the student’s reading. (ii) Calculate the relative error. (iii) Find the percentage error and express it to two significant figures. (iv) State, with a brief reason, whether the student’s measurement is accurate enough if the maximum permissible percentage error in the experiment is .Intuitive explanation
Measurement error quantifies how far an observation deviates from the true value—and comes in three flavors that tell different stories. Absolute error is the raw difference; relative error scales that difference by what you're measuring; and percentage error makes it easy to compare across experiments. The key insight is that a small absolute error might still be unacceptable if you're measuring something tiny, so relative and percentage errors reveal whether your measurement is actually good enough for the task at hand.
Intuitive explanation
Measurement error quantifies how far an observation deviates from the true value—and comes in three flavors that tell different stories. Absolute error is the raw difference; relative error scales that difference by what you're measuring; and percentage error makes it easy to compare across experiments. The key insight is that a small absolute error might still be unacceptable if you're measuring something tiny, so relative and percentage errors reveal whether your measurement is actually good enough for the task at hand.