Question

A student measures the length of a glass rod five times and records the data as: a. 23.487 cm b. 23.493 cm c. 23.516 cm d. 23.501 cm e. 23.477 cm The labeled value of the glass rod is 23.490 cm. Calculate the percent error for all the data recorded by the student.

Answer 1

Percent error is calculated by the expression:

%error = |actual value - observed value| / actual value x 100

We calculate the error of the values as follows:

a. 23.487 cm
% error = |23.490  - 23.487| / 23.490 x 100 = 0.013%

b. 23.493 cm
% error = |23.490  - 23.493| / 23.490 x 100 = 0.013%

c. 23.516 cm
% error = |23.490  - 23.516| / 23.490 x 100 = 0.11%

d. 23.501 cm
% error = |23.490  - 23.501| / 23.490 x 100 = 0.05%

e. 23.477 cm
% error = |23.490  - 23.477| / 23.490 x 100 = 0.055%