ERROR ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTS

This manual presents the more elementary aspects of error analysis of experiments
that students in undergraduate engineering laboratory courses should be able to
master. Throughout are many examples based on real experiments that should
satisfactorily illustrate the theory and procedures. Section 2 denes types of errors
with the important distinction between precision (random) and bias (systematic)
errors. Section 3 introduces concepts associated with a sample, such as the mean
and standard deviation, and Section 4 introduces least-squares curve-tting of data.
Section 5 carefully denes how experimental uncertainty should be reported.
Sections 6 and 7 deal with propagation of errors from measurements to nal
results, rst for bias errors and then for precision errors. Section 8 discusses the use
and misuse of error bars and related concepts. Sections 9, 10 and 11 go more
deeply into the statistical theory used to handle precision errors. Section 9 presents
features of the normal (Gaussian) probability distribution, while Sections 10 and 11
deal, respectively, with samples and curve-tting data from parent normal
populations. Section 12 briey discusses the role of statistical inference in
engineering experiments. Section 13 deals with the controversial topic of whether
and how to combine precision and bias errors. Section 14 discusses sampling of
time dependent data. The manual closes with a selection of case studies in Section
15, which reports in detail the development of a variety of experiments.
Example :
Measurement of Air Temperature and Relative Humidity
The moisture content of ambient air has a critical eect on the
manufacturing processes of various silicon based products, such as chip
wafers and optical bers. Thus, the air condition in experimental and
production facilities needs to be measured and tightly controlled. A
measurement unit that is used in production facilities is the Viasala HMP
233 Humidity/Dewpoint Transmitter. It uses a platinum RTD to measure
temperature, and the humidity sensor uses the e ect of moisture on the
dielectric properties of a solid polymer to measure relative humidity. The
following specications are given by the manufacturer:

The output on the computer screen is simply two columns of gures giving
temperature and relative humidity at intervals of 1 second (1 Hz frequency).
For example, a measurement of the laboratory ambient air gives:

Clearly, the precision errors are very small, less than 0.1% RH and 0.1 C.
The claimed accuracy of the RH measurement accounting for both bias and
precision errors is 1.0%. Clearly, the 0.1% observed possible precision
errors are negligible compared to the 1.0% (the values of 50.6% could be
due to precision error or due to a uctuation in the ambient air condition).
The claimed accuracy of the temperature measurement is
0.2C.The0.1Cobservedpossibleprecisionerrorisonehalf this value: if an
Commentgure
:
additional
were displayed the possible precision error may even be
smaller.
the manufacturer
expects ainbias
approaching0.2
in theClearly
example
above are included
theerror
systematic
errors. C.
Indeed,
the common
wisdomerror
is that(systematic
one does noterror)
claimtend
a totaltoerror
wherein,
the systematic
shiftless
all than
0.2measurements
C for any temperature
sensorsounless
very
special
ort is made
systematically,
that inathe
course
of aenumber
of to
calibrate
the sensorthe
andaverage
process the
output.
measurements,
value
is constantly shifts or varies in
a predictable way. The cause can be known or not known, but it
should always be corrected when they arise. For example, there
are no measuring devices to be calibrated perfectly, so that when
a group is systematically different measurements of standard
reference value, the adjustment values must be done. Systematic
errors can be corrected only when the "true value" (as the value
assigned to the calibration or reference specimens) are known.