1

Physics 9702 Paper 5

QUESTION 2
Skill

Analysis, conclusions and evaluation

Breakdown of marks
Approach to data analysis
Table of results
Graph
Conclusion
Treatment of errors
Total

1 mark
2 marks
3 marks
4 marks
5marks
15 marks

The Upper-Lower Bound Method of Uncertainty Propagation

An alternative and sometimes simpler procedure to the tedious propagation of uncertainty
law is the upper-lower bound method of uncertainty propagation. This method does not yield
a standard uncertainty estimate, but it does give a reasonable estimate of the uncertainty for
practically any situation, particularly when the propagation of uncertainty laws are tedious to
use. The basic idea of this method is to use the uncertainty ranges of each variable to
calculate the maximum and minimum values of the function.
Examples:

Uncertainty in
Uncertainty in
Uncertainty in

(to 1sf)

V/V
5.0 0.2
Use

I/10-3A
15 0.2

330

R/
18 or 330

20

to find

Or

R is given to 2 sf as V and I are to 2sf

Note: This approach can be used with any mathematical function, not just with natural
logarithms. It is conventional that the error estimate is normally quoted to one significant
figure, and this should determine the number of significant figures in the derived quantity.

Error bars
The estimated errors or uncertainties included in the table of results can be shown on a graph
as error bars. Horizontal error bars represent uncertainties in the x direction and vertical error
bars represent uncertainties in the y direction. For e.g, x = 10.5 0.2, the horizontal error bar
runs from 10.3 to 10.7 with the plotted point 10.5 as centre. When both vertical and
horizontal error bars are plotted we obtain what we called error rectangles
Error bars can guide us to draw the line of best-fit in that the line should pass through (or
very close to) all the error bars. The quality of the best-fit line can be said to depend on the
length of the error bars which are not necessarily of equal length.
Error bars can also allow us to determine the uncertainties in gradient and y-intercept. This is
done by drawing, in addition to the best-fit line, a worst acceptable line through the data
points. The worst acceptable line is the steepest line (line joining top of top error bar to
bottom of bottom error bar) or shallowest line (line joining bottom of top error bar to top of
bottom error bar) that passes through the error bars of all the data points. It should be
distinguished from the best-fit line either by drawing it as a broken line or by clearly labelling
it. The uncertainty in the gradient is then the difference between the gradient of best-fit line
(m) and gradient of worst acceptable line (m1). For e.g, m = 2.3 and m1 =2.7,
gradient = 2.3

0.4 and the % uncertainty in gradient

Uncertainty in y-intercept = y-intercept of best-fit line y-intercept of worst acceptable line.

y
worst acceptable line

best fit line

uncertainty
in
y-intercept
0