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Re: [Phys-l] uncertainty +- error (was: misconceptions)



On 9/30/11 9:48 AM, phys-l-request@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu wrote:
A lot of people think "error" always means mistake or blunder. Some
people think that an error is Wrong with a capital W, in the same way
that lying and stealing are Wrong i.e. sinful. This is absolutely
not what we mean by "error" in this context.
Error also works the other way. I have always insisted one should single line errors made in one's lab notebooks. I had great difficulty in getting my TAs to do it, let alone their students. Eventually most would come around. Then one fall I had a group of international students in my lab practicum who absolutely would not single line their mistakes but did single line all their uncertainties. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. When I approached them about it they said it was how the lab manual said they should do it i.e. "single line your errors". They thought it sounded kind of strange but since I was their instructor and I required them to do it they would do so. Never mind it didn't make an ounce of sense (at least to me). All I can figure is their dictionaries translated uncertainty to "error" and "error" to "mistake".

Now I write "single line alterations" in my lab manuals. I'm waiting for the next group of grad students to tell me if that will work any better. You've got to love semantics.

Dan Beeker