Question

A plant stem is measured to be 16.0 cm, correct to one decimal place.What is the percentage error in this measurement?

Answer 1

Given:

measured length = 16.0 cm

Percentage error is calculated using the formula:

`\text{ \% error = }\frac{error}{measured\text{ length}}*100`

The greatest possible error of a measurement is considered to be one-half of the measuring unit. The measured value is 16.0cm (measuring to the nearest tenth), the greatest possible error is one-half of one-tenth or 0.05.

Hence, we have:

error = 0.05

Substituting we have:

`\begin{gathered} \text{ \% error = }(0.05)/(16)\text{ }*\text{ 100} \\ =\text{ 0.3125} \end{gathered}`

Answer: 0.3125%