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Each of five students used the same ruler to measure the length of the same pencil. These data resulted: 15.33 cm, 15.34 cm, 15.33 cm, 15.33 cm, 15.34 cm. The actual length of the pencil was 15.85 cm. Describe whether accuracy and precision are each good or poor for these measurements.

User Cregox
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2 Answers

4 votes

Final answer:

Accuracy and precision are important concepts in measurement. The measurements in this case have poor accuracy but good precision.

Step-by-step explanation:

Accuracy and precision are two important concepts in measurement. Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or actual value. In this case, the measurements of the pencil length are not accurate because they are all lower than the actual length of 15.85 cm.

Precision, on the other hand, refers to how consistent and reproducible the measurements are. The measurements in this case are precise because they are all very close to each other, with only small variations in the recorded lengths.

Therefore, the measurements in this case have poor accuracy but good precision.

User Ted Yu
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6 votes

Answer:

Precision is good but accuracy is poor

Step-by-step explanation:

The precision in a measure is about how close is a measured value to each other. In the problem, all measurements are between 15.33 and 15.34cm. Thus, you can say precision is good

And accuracy is about how close are the measured values to the theoretical or real value. The real length of the pencil is 15.85cm. The measurements are not even close of the real value. For that reason, you can sat accuracy of the measurements is poor.

User Peter Hanley
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