CE 134 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Decimal Mark, Protractor, Significant Figures

• School: Cal Poly Pomona
• Department: Civil Engineering
• Course: CE 134
• Professor: Lourdes Abellera

Document Summary

Theory of errors in observations (part i): significant figures, field. Discrepancy: difference between two observed values of the same quantity. Precision: degree of consistency of a group of observations. Accuracy: absolute nearness of observed quantities to their true value. Systematic errors: result from factors that comprise the measuring system, and include the environment, instrument, and observer: e. g. , error in rod reading due to refraction. Random errors: those that remain in measured values after mistakes and systematic errors have been eliminated: caused by factors beyond the control of the observer, obey the laws of probability. Designates digits in a number that have meaning. General rules: numbers 1-9 are significant digits, zero. Significant number if located between 1-9, or if it appears to the right of 1-9. Not a significant number when it is the first digit on the left of a long number.