GCSE Physics (OCR A)

Topic Summaries

Science skills: Measuring results

Uncertainty

  • The uncertainty of a measurement is the range of values for which it suggests the true value could lie within. Uncertainties are usually given as how far above or below a measured value the true value could be. For example, the value 37.4 ± 2 indicates the true value could be anywhere between 35.4 and 39.4.
  • The uncertainty for a repeated experiment can be measured by the range of measurements about the mean. For example, the uncertainty of the measurements 3, 4, and 5 is 4 ± 1.

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