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Gy vbIntroduction

Error propagation is simply the process of determining


the uncertainty of an answer obtained from a
calculation. Every time data are measured, there is an
uncertainty associated with that measurement. If these
measurements used in your calculation have some
uncertainty associated with them, then the final
answer will, of course, have some level of uncertainty.
In the above linear fit, m = 0.9000 and m = 0.05774.
For instance, in lab you might measure an object's
The uncertainty should be rounded to 0.06, which
position at different times in order to find the object's
means that the slope must be rounded to the
average velocity. Since both distance and time
hundredths place as well:
measurements have uncertainties associated with
them, those uncertainties follow the numbers
throughout the calculations and eventually affect your m = 0.90 0.06
final answer for the velocity of that object. How would
you determine the uncertainty in your calculated If the above values have units, don't forget to include
values? them.

In lab, graphs are often used where LoggerPro software


calculates uncertainties in slope and intercept values
Constants
for you. In other classes, like chemistry, there are
particular ways to calculate uncertainties. In fact, since If an expression contains a constant, B, such that q
uncertainty calculations are based on statistics, there =Bx, then:
are as many different ways to determine uncertainties
as there are statistical methods. The error propagation
methods presented in this guide are a set of general
rules that will be consistently used for all levels of
physics classes in this department.

In the following examples: You can see the constant B only enters the equation in
that it is used to determine q.
q is the result of a mathematical operation
Example:
is the uncertainty associated with a
F = mg = (20.4 kg)(-9.80 m/s2) = -199.92 kgm/s2
measurement.
F/F = m/m
For example, if you have a measurement that F/(-199.92 kgm/s2) = (0.2 kg)/(20.4 kg)
looks like this: F = 1.96 kgm/s2
F = 2 kgm/s2
m = 20.4 kg 0.2 kg F = -199.92 kgm/s2 1.96kgm/s2
With the answer rounded to 3 sig figs:
Then q = 20.4 kg and m = 0.2 kg
F = -200 kgm/s2 2kgm/s2

First Step: Make sure that your units are consistent


Addition and Subtraction
Make sure that you are using SI units and that they are
consistent. If you are converting between unit systems, Although it may seem intuitive to simply add the
then you are probably multiplying your value by a uncertainties of numbers that are added together, this
constant. Please see the following rule on how to use can give misleading results. For example, if some
constants. number A has a positive uncertainty and some other
number B has a negative uncertainty, then simply
adding the uncertainties of A and B together could give
Logger Pro an answer with an uncertainty of zero. Two numbers
with uncertainties cannot provide an answer with
If you are using a curve fit generated by Logger Pro, absolute certainty! To fix this problem we square the
please use the uncertainty associated with the uncertainties (which will always give a positive value)
parameters that Logger Pro give you. before we add them, and then take the square root of
the sum. If q is the sum of x, y, and z, then the
uncertainty associated with q can be found
mathematically as follows:
L/6.63 m =(0.5)(2m2)/(44 m2)
L = 0.15 m
L = 6.63 m 0.15m
With the answer rounded to 3 sig figs:
L = 6.6 m 0.2m

Multiplication and Division


General function of one variable
Finding the uncertainty in a product obtained by
multiplying two numbers together is similar to the The uncertainty of a function of one variable can be
method used for addition and subtraction. However, we found with the following:
want to consider the ratio of the uncertainty to the
measured number itself. This ratio is called
the fractional error. This ratio is very important
because it relates the uncertainty to the measured
value itself. Consider a length-measuring tool that
gives an uncertainty of 1 cm. If you measure the length
of a pencil, the ratio will be very high. If you're
measuring the height of a skyscraper, the ratio will be
very low. Mathematically, if q is the product of x, y, and Example: Measure the constant velocity of a cart
z, then the uncertainty of q can be found using: rolling on a 50.0 cm track. The time is measured to be
1.32 seconds with an uncertainty of 0.06 seconds.

Since the velocity is the change in distance per time, v


= (x-xo)/t.

Setting xo to be zero, v= x/t = 50.0 cm / 1.32 s =


37.8787 cm/s.

The derivative, dv/dt = -x/t2.

Since division is simply multiplication by the inverse of


a number, then this multiplication rule can be extended Using the equations above, delta v is the absolute
to give: value of the derivative times the delta time, or:

Uncertainties are often written to one significant figure,


however smaller values can allow more significant
figures. In this example, the 1.72 cm/s is rounded to
1.7 cm/s. Since uncertainties are used to indicate
ranges in your final answer, when in doubt round up
and use only one significant figure.
Exponents
Since the uncertainty has only one decimal place, then
the velocity must now be expressed with one decimal
If a number is raised to a power, then the uncertainty
place as well. Knowing the uncertainty in the final
is found to be:
value is the correct way to officially determine the
correct number of decimal places and significant
figures in the final calculated result. The final result for
velocity would be v = 37.9 + 1.7 cm/s. This tells the
reader that the next time the experiment is performed
the velocity would most likely be between 36.2 and
39.6 cm/s.

General function of multivariables


For example:
L = A-1/2 where A = 44 m2 2m2
L = (44 m2)-1/2 = 6.63 m For a function q which depends on variables x, y, and z,
L/L =(0.5)A/A the uncertainty can be found by the square root of the
squared sums of the variables uncertainty multiplied uncertainty to the final answer. Now a repeated run of
by the partial derivative with respect to that variable, the cart would be expected to give a result between
or: 36.1 and 39.7 cm/s. Also, notice that the units of the
uncertainty calculation match the units of the answer.

Error Propagation in Trig Functions

Rules have been given for addition, subtraction,


multiplication, and division. Raising to a power was a
special case of multiplication. You will sometimes
encounter calculations with trig functions, logarithms,
square roots, and other operations, for which these
Example: The previous example measured the rules are not sufficient.
constant velocity of a cart rolling down a known track
length with an uncertainty in the measured time. If we When propagating error through an operation, the
now have to measure the length of the track, we have maximum error in a result is found by determining how
a function with two variables. It will be interesting to much change occurs in the result when the maximum
see how this additional uncertainty will affect the errors in the data combine in the worst possible way.
result!
Example: An angle is measured to be 30: 0.5.
The measured track length is now 50.0 + 0.5 cm, but What is the error in the sine of this angle?
time is still 1.32 + 0.06 s as before.
Solution: Use your electronic calculator. The sine of 30
As in the previous example, the velocity v= x/t = 50.0 is 0.5; the sine of 30.5 is 0.508; the sine of 29.5 is
cm / 1.32 s = 37.8787 cm/s. 0.492. So if the angle is one half degree too large the
sine becomes 0.008 larger, and if it were half a degree
The derivative with respect to t is dv/dt = -x/t 2. The too small the sine becomes 0.008 smaller. (The change
derivative with respect to x is dv/dx = 1/t. happens to be nearly the same size in both cases.) So
the error in the sine would be written 0.008.

The size of the error in trigonometric functions depends


not only on the size of the error in the angle, but also
on the size of the angle. A one half degree error in an
angle of 90 would give an error of only 0.00004 in the
sine.
So, rounding this uncertainty up to 1.8 cm/s, the final
answer should be 37.9 + 1.8 cm/s. As expected, adding
the uncertainty to the length of the track gave a larger

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