The Paradox of Precision

This paper is about a typical mistake in the calculation of standard deviation of measurements in cases in which there are no differences among repetitious replicates. Some students believe the standard deviation in those case is equal to zero. So, this mistake leaves to a paradox: worse balance sho...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Oliveira, André F., Silva, Astrea F. S., Queiroz, Maria Eliana L. R., Neves, Antônio Augusto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS)
Repositorio:Orbital - The Electronic Journal of Chemistry (Campo Grande)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:periodicos.ufms.br:article/15755
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.ufms.br/index.php/orbital/article/view/15755
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:standard deviation
global variance
precision of measurements
error propagation
Descripción
Sumario:This paper is about a typical mistake in the calculation of standard deviation of measurements in cases in which there are no differences among repetitious replicates. Some students believe the standard deviation in those case is equal to zero. So, this mistake leaves to a paradox: worse balance should show better results (i.e. standard deviation equal to zero). The solution of this simple, but important situation is shown. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v12i2.1466