Question

scientists believe the earth likely warmed between 0.65 celsius and 1.05 celsius with an average value of 0.85 celsius between years 1880 and 2012. what was error bar for the increase in temperature over that period?

Answer 1

The lower limit is 0.65°C

The upper limit is 1.05°C

the average is 0.85°C

The difference between the average and the lower limit is:

0.85°C - 0.65°C = 0.20°C

the difference between th average and the upper limit is:

0.85°C - 1.05°C = -0.20°C

Then we can write the change in temperature as:

T = 0.85°C ± 0.20°C

Now we want to find the error bar.

The error bar would be the total distance between the lowest value and the largest value.

Then the error bar is:

1.05°C - 0.65°C = 0.40°C

notice that the error bar is twice the error, which makes a lot of sense because the error (± 0.20°C) goes up and down.

Then the error bar in this measure has a magnitude of 0.40°C.