Thread: why is it incorrect to say that the results of a measurement were accurate but not...

precise? Help me please.

Originally Posted by kmurphyx

precise? Help me please.

do you know the difference between the two words?

"Accurate" means how close the answer is to the actual answer, that is, the widely accepted answer.

"Precise" means how close the answer is to the other answers you got (if it's the case that you are doing an "experiment" over and over)


so "accurate but not precise" means that this measurement is close to the actual answer, but it is way off from the other measurements that you took

thank you very much