What is the difference between accuracy and precision in science?

Answer 1

accuracy refers to how close a measurement is to the true or actual value. precision is a measure of the exactness of a measurement. so if playing darts high precision is like reproduicibility. you can get them all in the same spot. high accuracy would be scattered around the bullseye. if both then it would be close together near the bullseye.

Answer 2

In the fields of science, engineering, industry and statistics, accuracy is the degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. Accuracy is closely related to precision, also called reproducibility or repeatability, the degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results. The results of calculations or a measurement can be accurate but not precise; precise but not accurate; neither; or both.

A measurement system or computational method is called valid if it is both accurate and precise. The related terms are bias (non-random or directed effects caused by a factor or factors unrelated by the independent variable) and error (random variability), respectively .

check out the below link on wiki. It summarises your question extremely well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accuracy_an...

Answer 3

In the fields of science, engineering, industry and statistics, the accuracy[1] of a measurement system is the degree of closeness of measurements of a quantity to that quantity's actual (true) value. The precision[1] of a measurement system, also called reproducibility orrepeatability, is the degree to which repeated measurements under unchanged conditions show the same results.[2] Although the two words can besynonymous in colloquial use, they are deliberately contrasted in the context of the scientific method.

- wikipedia.org

Answer 4

Precision is how close all measurements are to eachother, accuracy is how close the measurements are to the correct value.

ANSWER Precision is how close is to the actual along the span of the reading.

Accuracy is % of full scale reading

Answer 5

Accuracy of a measurement is the degree of closeness of a measured quantity to that same quantity's actual value.

Precision of a measurement is the degree to which repeated measurement of a certain quantity show the same results.

For example, four students has carried out an experiment to find out the magnitude of gravitational acceleration, which the actual value is 9.80665ms-2.

Results are:

Student A: 9.80, 9.81, 9.81, 9.80 (accurate and precise)

Student B: 9.74, 9.75, 9.74, 9.75 (not accurate but precise)

Student C: 9.80, 9.78, 9.84, 9.82 (accurate but not precise)

Student D: 9.70, 9.81, 9.74, 9.67 (not accurate and not precise)

Answer 6

Consider a bell shaped curve, Accuracy is when the peak is near the right answer and precision is when the spread (+/- error band) is small. An answer can be accurate but not precise or precise but not accurate. A good answer is accuarte and precise.

Answer 7

Accuracy is a measure of how close a measurement is to a known standard. Precision is a measure of how much variance there is in a particular measurement.

Answer 8

Accuracy is how right is the answer and precision is how small is the resolution.

One can be accurate but not precise, and precise but not accurate.