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1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Herman J. C. Berendsen
Affiliation:
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
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Summary

It is impossible to measure physical quantities without errors. In most cases errors result from deviations and inaccuracies caused by the measuring apparatus or from the inaccurate reading of the displaying device, but also with optimal instruments and digital displays there are always fluctuations in the measured data. Ultimately there is random thermal noise affecting all quantities that are determined at a finite temperature. Any experimentally determined quantity therefore has a certain inaccuracy. If the experiment were to be repeated, the result would be (slightly) different. One could say that the result of a particular experiment is no more than a random sample from a probability distribution. When reporting the result of an experiment, it is important to also report the extent of the uncertainty, e.g. in terms of the best estimate of some measure of the width of the probability distribution. When experimental data are processed and conclusions are drawn from them, knowledge of the experimental uncertainties is essential to assess the reliability of the conclusion.

Ideally, you should specify the probability distribution from which the reported experimental value is supposed to be a random sample. The problem is that you have only one experiment; even if your experiment consists of many observations of which you report the average, you have only one average to report.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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  • Introduction
  • Herman J. C. Berendsen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
  • Book: A Student's Guide to Data and Error Analysis
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511921247.002
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  • Introduction
  • Herman J. C. Berendsen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
  • Book: A Student's Guide to Data and Error Analysis
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511921247.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Herman J. C. Berendsen, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
  • Book: A Student's Guide to Data and Error Analysis
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511921247.002
Available formats
×