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Re: precision of a measurement (documentation related question)

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg61604] Re: precision of a measurement (documentation related question)
• From: Chris Chiasson <chris.chiasson at gmail.com>
• Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 05:46:15 -0400 (EDT)
• References: <acbec1a40510221346r2cee06c3led071a9eeb92d58b@mail.gmail.com>
• Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Thanks to a Mention by Maxim in this thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.soft-sys.math.mathematica/browse_frm/thread/1768e67ba5ac75f3?tvc=1&q=interval+significance
and the documentation for Interval,
I was able to figure out the answer to my question:
FullForm@Interval[SetPrecision[x,-Log[10,dx/x]]]/.{{x\[Rule]30,
      dx\[Rule]0.5},{x\[Rule]30,dx\[Rule]1}

On 10/22/05, Chris Chiasson <chris.chiasson at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Mathgroup,
> If I know that a number (say in inches, measured on a ruler that only
> has marks for inches) and its error are:
> 30 + or - 0.5,
> then looking at the help file for Precision, I see that the precision is:
> -Log[10,dx/x]
> In this case, is dx = 0.5 or is it equal to 1.0??
> I have noticed that in either case, the number of significant
> digits/the precision is less than 2.
>
> Your thoughts?
> --
> Chris Chiasson
> http://chrischiasson.com/contact/chris_chiasson
>


--
Chris Chiasson
http://chrischiasson.com/contact/chris_chiasson