A student records the mass of a sample five times and obtains 152.3 g, 152.1 g, 152.5…

PHYSICS · Single correct · A Level · Physics · Measurements and their errors · Measurements and their errors

Problem

A student records the mass of a sample five times and obtains 152.3 g, 152.1 g, 152.5 g, 152.4 g and 153.2 g. The result should be stated as the mean mass ±\pm the average absolute error (rounded to one significant figure). Which of the following is the correct report? (a) 152.5 g ± 0.28 g152.5\,\text{g}\,\pm\,0.28\,\text{g} (b) 152.5 g ± 0.3 g152.5\,\text{g}\,\pm\,0.3\,\text{g} (c) 152.5 g ± 0.7 g152.5\,\text{g}\,\pm\,0.7\,\text{g} (d) 152.5 g ± 0.14 g152.5\,\text{g}\,\pm\,0.14\,\text{g}

Related theory

Browse the problem library