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[Phys-l] Symbol for uncertainty



Hi all,

I'm curious about what symbol everyone here uses for uncertainty in measurement. One can get a long way without using any particular symbol, but in some situations (e.g., teaching about uncertainty propagation) you need an algebraic symbol to represent the uncertainty, separate from the measured value.

* Many at my college use capital-delta-x (for variable x). I prefer to avoid that because the same symbol is used for "change in x".
* Some like to use sigma-sub-x. But the way I read things, that really should be reserved specifically for standard deviation. Some uncertainties aren't standard deviations.
* NIST recommends u(x), but I don't particularly like that because it looks like a functional relationship.

So let the masses speak! I've set up a survey at the URL
<http://survey.geneseo.edu:8080/survey/entry.jsp?id=1305076116174>
Go there to register your preference! When the votes stop rolling in, I'll report on the results.

Cheers,
-- James
--
Dr. James McLean phone: (585) 245-5897
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy FAX: (585) 245-5116
SUNY Geneseo email: mclean@geneseo.edu
1 College Circle web: http://www.geneseo.edu/~mclean
Geneseo, NY 14454-1401