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ErrorAnalysis

PRACTICALMATHEMATICS

ErrorAnalysis
Contents
SystematicErrors
RandomErrors
Resolution
PropagationofErrors
SignificantDigitsinNumericalValues
SuggestedReading

SystematicErrors
Systematicerrorsinexperimentalobservationsusuallycomefromthemeasuringinstruments.Theymay
occurbecause:
thereissomethingwrongwiththeinstrumentoritsdatahandlingsystem,or
becausetheinstrumentiswronglyusedbytheexperimenter.
Twotypesofsystematicerrorcanoccurwithinstrumentshavingalinearresponse:
1. Offsetorzerosettingerrorinwhichtheinstrumentdoesnotreadzerowhenthequantitytobe
measurediszero.
2. Multiplierorscalefactorerrorinwhichtheinstrumentconsistentlyreadschangesinthequantity
tobemeasuredgreaterorlessthantheactualchanges.
TheseerrorsareshowninFig.1.Systematicerrorsalsooccurwithnonlinearinstrumentswhenthe
calibrationoftheinstrumentisnotknowncorrectly.

Fig.1.Systematicerrorsinalinearinstrument(fullline).
Brokenlineshowsresponseofanidealinstrumentwithouterror.
Examplesofsystematicerrorscausedbythewronguseofinstrumentsare:
errorsinmeasurementsoftemperatureduetopoorthermalcontactbetweenthethermometerand
thesubstancewhosetemperatureistobefound,
errorsinmeasurementsofsolarradiationbecausetreesorbuildingsshadetheradiometer.
Theaccuracyofameasurementishowclosethemeasurementistothetruevalueofthequantitybeing
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measured.Theaccuracyofmeasurementsisoftenreducedbysystematicerrors,whicharedifficultto
detectevenforexperiencedresearchworkers.

RandomErrors
Randomerrorsinexperimentalmeasurementsarecausedbyunknownandunpredictablechangesinthe
experiment.Thesechangesmayoccurinthemeasuringinstrumentsorintheenvironmentalconditions.
Examplesofcausesofrandomerrorsare:
electronicnoiseinthecircuitofanelectricalinstrument,
irregularchangesintheheatlossratefromasolarcollectorduetochangesinthewind.
RandomerrorsoftenhaveaGaussiannormaldistribution(seeFig.2).Insuchcasesstatisticalmethods
maybeusedtoanalyzethedata.Themeanmofanumberofmeasurementsofthesamequantityisthe
bestestimateofthatquantity,andthestandarddeviationsofthemeasurementsshowstheaccuracyof
theestimate.Thestandarderroroftheestimatemiss/sqrt(n),wherenisthenumberofmeasurements.

Fig.2.TheGaussiannormaldistribution.m=meanofmeasurements.s=standarddeviationof
measurements.68%ofthemeasurementslieintheintervalms<x<m+s95%liewithinm2s<x
<m+2sand99.7%liewithinm3s<x<m+3s.
Theprecisionofameasurementishowcloseanumberofmeasurementsofthesamequantityagreewith
eachother.Theprecisionislimitedbytherandomerrors.Itmayusuallybedeterminedbyrepeatingthe
measurements.

Resolution
Theresolutionofaninstrumentisthesmallestpossibledifferencebetweenseparatevaluesoftheoutput
(inotherwordshowfinethescaleoftheinstrumentis).
Ahighresolutionisnecessaryforhighaccuracy,butitdoesnotgivehighaccuracywhentherearelarge
systematicandrandomerrors.Weshouldchooseinstrumentsthathaveasufficientresolutionforthe
measurementstobemade,butthereisnoneedforaresolutiongreaterthanthesystematicandrandom
errorsintheexperiments.

PropagationofErrors
Whenmeasurementsareusedtocalculatearesult,theaccuracyoftheresultislimitedbythepropagation
oferrorsthroughthecalculation.Theseerrorsarisefrom:
1. errorsintheoriginalmeasurements,
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2. roundofferrorsinthecalculation.
Inmanycalculationswemayusetwoorthreesignificantdigitsmorethanthosejustifiedbytheaccuracy
oftheoriginaldata.However,whenthenumberofarithmeticaloperationsisverylarge(whichis
possiblewhenacomputerisused),greatcareisneededtomakesurethattheerrorsdonotaccumulate
andgiveinaccurateresults.
Theeffectsofsmallerrorsmayoftenbestudiedbydifferentiation.Thebehavioroftheerrorsisshown
bythebehaviorofthedifferentials.Forexample,theerrorinasum(oradifference)isthesum(or
difference)oftheerrorsintheseparateterms:
d(x+y)=dx+dy,d(xy)=dxdy.
Sincewedonotknowwhethertheerrorsarepositiveornegative,theseequationsarereplacedby
equationsfortheabsoluteerrorsasfollows:
|d(x+y)|=|dx|+|dy|.
Thefractional,orrelative,errorinaproduct(orquotent)isthesum(ordifference)ofthefractional,or
relative,errorsinthefactorsoftheproduct(orquotient):
d(x.y)/(x.y)=dx/x+dy/y,d(x/y)/(x/y)=dx/xdy/y.
Asbefore,sincewedonotknowwhethertheerrorsarepositiveornegative,weuseequationsforthe
absolutevaluesoftherelativeerrors,asfollows:
|d(x.y)/(x.y)|=|dx/x|+|dy/y|,|d(x/y)/(x/y)|=|dx/x|+|dy/y|.
Ifaquantityuiscalculatedfromseveralmeasurementsx1,...,xnbymeansofafunctionfasfollows:
u=f(x1,...,xn),
then
|du|=|u1dx1|+...+|undxn|,
whereu1,...,unarethevaluesofthepartialderivativesoffwithrespecttox1,...,xn.

SignificantDigitsinNumericalValues
Theaccuracyofanumericalvaluemaybeindicatedbythenumberofdigitsinthevaluegiven.Wesay
that15.6hasthreesignificantdigits,whenthelastdecimaldigit6maynotbecompletelycertain.The
additionofmoredigits(forexample,15.620478)wouldbemeaningless.
Inmultiplicationsanddivisions,thenumberofsignificantdigitsinthefinalresultshouldbethesameas
thenumberofsignificantdigitsintheleastaccuratefactor.

EXAMPLE
(36.4792.6)/14.85=6.3868956=approximately6.4.Althoughextradigitsarekeptinthe
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intermediatestepsofthecalculation,thefinalresulthasonlytwosignificantdigits,becausethe
originalfactor2.6hasonlytwosignificantdigits.
Inadditionsandsubtractions,thenumberofdigitsafterthedecimalpointinthefinalresultshouldbethe
sameasthesmallestnumberofdigitsafterthedecimalpointinthetermsofthesumsordifferences.

EXAMPLE
17.524+2.43.56=16.364=approximately16.4.Thefinalresulthasonlyonedigitafterthe
decimalpointbecausetheoriginalterm2.4hasonlyonedigitafterthedecimalpoint.

EXERCISES
1. FindthevolumeVofacircularcylinderwithradiusr=1.26cmandheighth=7.3cm.(V=pi.r2.h)
2. Findthesum:0.056102+11.8101

SuggestedReading
1. Topping,J.(1972).ErrorsofObservationandTheirTreatment(4thEdition),London:Chapman
andHall.[KMUTTLibrarycallnumber:QA275TOP1972]
2. Acton,FormanS.(1959).AnalysisofStraightLineData,NewYork:Dover.[KMUTTLibrary
callnumber:QA276ACT1959]

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