Question

"If a method produces a random error for each measurement of 4%, but a percent error of equal to or less than 1% is required for this value for later analysis, what is the minimum number of measurements that must be collected and averaged? You will need to solve equation 1 for the value of n that meets the criterion of a 1% error in the average."

Answer 1

N = 16 measurements

Explanation:

A method produces a random error for each measurement of 4%

A percent error of equal to or less than 1% is required.

We want to find out the minimum number of measurements that must be collected.

The standard error is given by

`SE = (S)/(√(N) ) \\`

Where s is the standard deviation and N is the number of measurements.

We are given standard deviation equal to 4% and SE equal to 1%

So re-arranging the above equation for N

`√(N) = (S)/(SE) \\N = ((S)/(SE))^(2)\\N = ((0.04)/(0.01))^(2)\\N = 16`

Therefore, a minimum 16 number of measurements are needed.