CALCULATING UNCERTAINTY IN THE EXPERIMENT

THE STATISTICAL FORMULA FOR STANDARD DEVIATION OF THE MEAN

If we assume that the quantity we are waiting to measure has some “true” value then how close
is our calculated mean, x , likely to be this “true value?

We introduce the idea of the standard deviation of the mean, σm, which is calculated from

m 
n
Where n is the number of reading, and σ, is the standard deviation defined as

( xi  x ) 2
 where x = the mean
n 1
n = the number of readings.

The standard deviation of the mean defines an interval ( x ± σm) on the number line within which
we are 68% sure that the “true” value lies within this interval.
Therefore, whenever we quote the result of a measurement we always quote it in the form of
mean ± the standard deviation of the mean i.e. x ± σm units. The standard deviation of the mean
is often referred to as the uncertainty and is represented by the symbol Δ, for example, the
uncertainty in gravitational acceleration g is represented by Δg.

A4. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES, SCIENTIFIC NOTATION AND

METRIC PREFIXES

SIGNIFICANT FIGURES

The number of significant figures, or digits, in a measured value gives an automatic indication
of how precise that value is. It is therefore important to report the correct number of significant
figures in an answer.

The number of significant figures in a result depends on …

(a) The precision of the original measurements, and
(b) The nature of the original calculation:
• If the result is calculated by multiplying or dividing measured values, it may contain
only as many significant figures as contained in the least precise of the readings.

E.g.: The average (mean) of 58.85; 60.1; and 61.525

Is … 60.2 (not 60.15833333)
• If the result is calculated by adding or subtracting measured values, it may contain
only as many decimal places as there are in the value with the least number of decimal
places
E.g.: 24.4 + 3.15 = … 27.6 (not 27.55)
Question:
If we calculate the velocity, v to be 35.82134 ± 0.061352 m/s, how should we quote our final
result and which digit in v, we uncertain about?
And which digits in v do not convey any meaningful information to us?

Answer:
The uncertainty of 0.061352 tells us that we are uncertain about the second decimal place in
35.82134. Our final results are then written as v = 35.82 ± 0.06 m/s.
This tells us that 68% certain that our result lies between 35.76 and 35.88.
Our uncertainty shows us that the fifth figure (and higher) in our measurement of v is not
significant i.e. ‘134’ convey no information and meaningless in this regard.

ROUNDING OFF

You will thus often need to round off your calculations to the correct number of significant
figures. The general rules for rounding off are:

(a) The last significant figure to be retained remains unaltered if the next digit is less
than 5. For example, 3.434 rounds off to 3.43.
(b) The last significant figure to be retained remains unaltered if the next digit is greater
than 5. For example, 3.436 rounds off to 3.44.
(c) *** Do not do a double round off! i.e. 3.4348 rounded off to three significant figures
become 3.435. Do not say 3.4348 to 3.435 to 3.44.

Examples: Write down the following measurements to the correct number of significant
figures (and put the units in too!)

Length, I = 34.47 ± 0.4572 = __________________________________________

Frequency, f = 1074 ± 25.9 = __________________________________________

Spring constant, k = 1.374 x 105 ± 216 = _________________________________

Velocity, v = 3.3801 ± 0.00734 = _______________________________________

Angular velocity, w = 23.27462746 ± 0.005526 = __________________________

SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

The ambiguity about the number of significant figures in 50 000 can be removed by
using scientific notation – where only the first significant digit of a number appears
before the decimal point.

5.0 x 104 has two significant figures

5.000 0 x 104 has five significant figures

METRIC PREFIXES
The following metric prefixes will be used in the Theoretical and Experimental Physics,
and must be well known:

FACTOR 10-12 10-9 10-6 10-3 10-2 10-1 100

PREFIX PICO- NANO- MICRO- MILLI- CENTI- DECI- -
ABBR p n μ m c D -

FACTOR 100 103 106 109 1012

PREFIX - KILO- MEGA- GIGA- TERA-
ABBR - k M G T

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

A. CONVERTING UNITS

1. 20 cm to m ________________________
2. 20 cm2 to m2 _______________________
3. 20 cm3 to m3 _______________________
4. 20 nm to m _________________________
5. 25 g to kg_________________________
6. 98 ns to s_________________________
7. 98 s to hr _________________________
8. 20 km/hr to m/s _________________________
9. 9 m3 to litre _________________________
10. 19345 mm2 to m2 ___________________________
11. 4 m3 to cm3 _________________________
12. 0.5 kPa to atm_________________________
13. 10 litres to m3 __________________________
14. 340 atoms per mm3 to atoms per m3 _______________________
15. 102 people per km2 to people per m2 _______________________

B. What is the volume of a box that has the following dimensions:

2.5 cm x 20 mm x 0.03 m? ______________________

C. A container can hold 1.0 litre of liquid. If the floor of the container has a surface area of 0.013m2,
how high is the container? _______________________
If the floor of the container is circular, what is the radius? _____________________
If the floor of the container is a square, what is the length of a side? _____________________

D. A box has a volume of 240 mm3. If the length of one side is 0.5 cm and the length of a second
side is 45 µm, the length of the third side is ____________________________