Scientific Definition Of Precision Math
Precision is how close the measured values are to each other.
Scientific definition of precision math. 2 3 although the two words precision and accuracy can be synonymous in colloquial use they are deliberately contrasted in the context of the scientific method. For example the appropriate value of pi is 3 14 and its accurate approximation. Precision is a number that shows an amount of the information digits and it expresses the value of the number. It has numerous forms in statistics arithmetic and precision etc.
The degree to which the correctness of a quantity is expressed compare accuracy def. The difference between 3 14 and 3 15 is about 0 3 of the values and also the difference between 6 02 10 23 and 6 03 10 23 or between 1 60 10 19 and 1 61 10 19 is of the same relative magnitude. In the above example while 33 is the accurate value and nothing is more accurate than it. In a scientific setting this would be the total number of digits sometimes called the significant figures or significant digits or less commonly the number of fractional digits or decimal places the number of digits following the decimal point.
In computer science the precision of a numerical quantity is a measure of the detail in which the quantity is expressed. You can think of accuracy and precision in terms of hitting a bull s eye. This is usually measured in bits but sometimes in decimal digits. But the precision digit is 3 199 which is less than the exact digit.
The precision is determined by the smallest relative difference between two representable numbers. Percent error is used to assess whether a measurement is sufficiently accurate and precise. An example is how close a second arrow is to the first one regardless of whether either is near the mark. The extent to which a given set of measurements of the same sample agree with their mean.
Therefore it can be written as 4 0 or 4 00 or 4 000 as per the requirement. Precision is the degree to which repeated measurements under the same conditions are unchanged. Here 4 is an exact number and has infinite number of significant figures. Some of the standardized precision formats are.
It is related to precision in mathematics which describes the number of digits that are used to express a value. Perimeter of a square is given by 4 s i d e 4 times side 4 s i d e. Values like 32 34 and 31 are quite close but not entirely accurate. The exact numbers appearing in the mathematical formulae of various physical quantities have infinite number of significant figures.
The precision of a numeric value describes the number of digits that are used to show that value. Unlike accuracy precision is not a definite term.