Chapter U4.8, Problem 2E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The meaning of % error should be explained.

Concept introduction:

Error is the result other than expected. It can be expressed as absolute error, % error etc. % error is the error which is calculated based on percentage or multiple of 100.

Answer to Problem 2E

% error tells how close the obtained result to the expected result is.

Explanation of Solution

Let’s consider the length of a scale to be 15 cm. A person has measured the length as 14.8 cm.

Then error will be (15-14.8) cm=0.2 cm

% error is calculated as follows:

Error in 15 cm is 0.2 cm.

Thus, error in 1 cm is $\frac{0.2}{15}$

Error in 100 cm will be $\frac{0.2}{15}\times 100\%=1.33\%$