precision of a measurement (documentation related question)
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg61598] precision of a measurement (documentation related question)
- From: Chris Chiasson <chris.chiasson at gmail.com>
- Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 05:46:05 -0400 (EDT)
- Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com
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