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Absolute Error
Absolute error measures the plain size of the gap between an approximate value and the exact value.
Measuring the Gap
Example 1 — a simple absolute error
The exact value is . An approximation gives . Find the absolute error.
- Subtract:
- Take the absolute value (drop the negative sign, since error is a size): || =
Answer:
Example 2 — a rounded measurement
A length is exactly cm, but is measured and rounded to cm. Find the absolute error.
- Subtract:
- Take the absolute value:
Answer: cm
Practice
The exact value is . An approximation gives . Find the absolute error.
Your answer
More lessons in Numerical Precision, Accuracy and Errors · Next: Relative and Percentage Error · Previous: Truncation vs Rounding