Measurement Error part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Numbers presented to students in geoscience always have some error associated with them. Anytime data is presented in class, not only in an instrumentation course, it is important they understand the errors ...

Propagation of Error part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Numerical Method The propagation of errors in individual mathematical operations, such as addition, multiplication, raising numbers to powers, etc. can be determined with specific analytical formulas. However, the ...

Rounding Numbers part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Scientists have a convention for rounding numbers to the appropriate number of significant figures. In the age of calculators that mindlessly present many digits more than are significant, knowing how to round ...

Precision and Accuracy part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Precision and accuracy are often used synonymously but they are in fact different things. It is possible to have very precise measurements that are not at all accurate. Here's a good example to share with ...

Appropriate Representation of Numbers part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Everyone agrees it is Africa's most populous nation. But what is its population? The United Nations says 114 million; the State Department, 120 million. The World Bank says 126.9 million, while the Central ...

Significant Figures part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
There is a general convention that the number of significant digits or figures in a measurement includes all of the decimal places that have constant value for every measurement of the parameter plus the first ...

Understanding Uncertainty part of Quantitative Skills:Teaching Methods:Understanding Uncertainty
Developed by Keith Sverdrup, Bob MacKay, and Swarn Gill in conjunction with the 2004 Workshop Histogram created with Online Statistical software. Details Students often encounter problems understanding measurement ...