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Does physics ever get vague?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2023
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One of the first things you learn in college-level science is accuracy and precision. A measurement can have a degree of correctness and a degree of exactness about the value. For example a sensor may get the wrong reading 3% of the time. When you have a big pile of readings, you don’t always have the time to validate them all. So, there is some uncertainty that you accept. The same sensor may only be able to give you an accurate reading down to a specific decimal point, which is expressed as precision. Anything less is given as a range in which error exists. These ideas are important, because when you do calculations based on those readings, you have to take the error with you. There may be a point where the value you reach is overshadowed by the magnitude of the error.