1.2b Propagating errors

THE IB SAYS

Essential idea: Scientists aim towards designing experiments that can give a "true value" from their measurements, but due to limited precision in measuring devices, they often quote their results with some form of uncertainty.

Understandings: Absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties

Applications and skills: Explaining how random and systematic errors can be identified and reduced; Collecting data that include absolute and/or fractional uncertainties and stating these as an uncertainty range (expressed as: best estimate ± uncertainty range); Propagating uncertainties through calculations involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and raising to a power

Data booklet equations:

Resources from textbooks

Oxford Physics: pages 11 - 14, with good worked examples

Hamper HL (2014): pages 8 - 24. Hamper goes through this topic in a slightly different path than I do, but those pages are a comprehensive look at this whole topic.

Hamper SL (2014): pages 8 - 24. Hamper goes through this topic in a slightly different path than I do, but those pages are a comprehensive look at this whole topic.

Relevant questions from Dot Point Physics (1 Physics and physical measurement)

pages 16 - 18