Valeria is a civil engineer, and she is measuring the tensile strength of a new type of steel. The actual strength of the new steel is 55,400 pounds per square inch (psi). She performs three tests on the steel, and measures the following values: 58,895 psi, 58,880. psi, and 58,884 psi. Which of the following statements describes Valeria's measurements.

Question

precise, but not accurate

neither accurate nor precise

both precise and accurate

accurate, but not precise

Answer 1

To evaluate Valeria's measurements:

• Accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the actual value (55,400 psi in this case).
• Precision refers to how consistent the measurements are with each other.

Valeria's measured values are:

• 58,895 psi
• 58,880 psi
• 58,884 psi

These measurements are relatively close to each other, indicating that they are precise. However, they are all significantly higher than the actual strength of the new steel (55,400 psi), suggesting that they are not accurate.

Given the definitions and Valeria's results, the best statement that describes her measurements is:

precise, but not accurate.