Darius is an electrical engineer, and he is measuring the electrical current flowing through a certain wire. The actual current is 1.2amps. He performs three measurements, and measures the following values: 1.410 amps, 1.422 amps, and 1.411 amps. Which of the following statements describes Darius’ measurements.

Question

accurate, but not precise

both precise and accurate

neither accurate nor precise

precise, but not accurate

Answer 1

To evaluate Darius' measurements in terms of accuracy and precision, we should define these terms:

• Accuracy refers to how close a measured value is to the actual value (true value).
• Precision refers to how close the measured values are to each other, regardless of how close they are to the actual value.

In Darius' case:

• The actual current value is 1.2 amps.
• His measured values are 1.410 amps, 1.422 amps, and 1.411 amps.

Accuracy:

The measured values (1.410, 1.422, 1.411) are all greater than the actual current of 1.2 amps, and thus none of the measurements are close to the actual value. Therefore, the measurements are not accurate.

Precision:

Now looking at the measurements:

• 1.410
• 1.422
• 1.411

These measurements are quite close to each other, indicating that they are relatively consistent. Therefore, the measurements are precise.

Based on this analysis, the appropriate statement to describe Darius' measurements is:

Precise, but not accurate.