Question
Question: What is the percentage error if the absolute error is \(\;0.01\) and the actual value is \(\;30.5\)?...
What is the percentage error if the absolute error is 0.01 and the actual value is 30.5?
Solution
We know that accurate measurements are required in the study of sciences, however often there are errors which are observed in the measurements. There are different types of errors on the basis of origin. However, there are certain simple ways to avoid these as well.
Formula used:
percentofError=actualvalue∣measuredvalue−actualvalue∣×100
Eabsolute=∣xmeasured−xaccepted∣
Complete step-by-step solution:
We know that we cannot always get 100 accurate readings. There are a few errors in which the deviation from their actual value is observed very often. These errors or mistakes lead to uncertainty in the measurement, small errors may be acceptable most of the time. However in research like medicine even a very small error can lead to a heavy cost.
Here, it is given that absolute error is 0.01 and the actual value is 30.5. We know that absolute error is given asEabsolute=∣xmeasured−xaccepted∣, then from the formula we have 0.01=∣xmeasured−xaccepted∣
We also we know that percentage error is given as percentofError=actualvalue∣measuredvalue−actualvalue∣×100
Then we have ⟹percentofError=30.50.01×100
⟹percentofError=0.0327
∴percentofError=0.033
Thus the percentage error for the given data was found to be 0.033
Note: The major ways of identifying errors in the measurement are: Margin error, absolute error, relative error and percentage error. Which arise due to systematic error, instrumental error, environmental error, observational error or random error. However, there are certain simple ways to avoid it by repeating the experiment multiple times and obtaining their mean values. Clearly, this is a very easy and simple question. Here, we don’t have to find the measured value; we can just substitute the absolute error instead to solve the question.