STS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Approximation Error, Observational Error
9 Feb 2018
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Ex: distance in meters, weight in pounds, volume in liters, temperature. Measurement: a number assigned to an object that quanti ed a characteristic. Ex: assign a dog a number that quanti es his weight. 1- random error: errors that are built into the measurement process. Error due to a faulty measuring process or a broken measurement device. All of the measurements will be too high or too low. Ex: measuring time with a slow clock. All of the responses will be clustered together. Ex: on tax returns, charitable donations are often incorrect because people often forget how much they donated (random) or they want a bigger refund (systematic) Ex: temperatures in the early 1900"s were often incorrect because: Temps were recorded in urban areas (systematic) Ex: a survey of hs students asked how many cigarettes they smoke daily. Errors: people lie and say they don"t smoke cigarettes ( systematic) Absolute error: (wrong value- right value )
