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Glossary
Look up any term from this course. Each entry links back to the lesson that taught it.
| Term | Definition | Lesson |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute error | |approximate value − exact value| — the plain size of the gap between an approximation and the truth. | Absolute Error |
| Accumulated error | The total error that builds up when a small error is repeated across many steps of a calculation. | Accumulated Error |
| Accuracy | How close a value is to the true or accepted value. | Accuracy vs Precision |
| Appropriate precision | Reporting a final answer with no more precision than the least precise value used to calculate it. | Reporting Appropriate Precision |
| Bounds of a product or quotient | Max of A×B is max(A)×max(B); max of A÷B is max(A)÷min(B) — and similarly for the minimums. | Calculating With Bounds: Multiplication and Division |
| Bounds of a sum or difference | Max of A+B is max(A)+max(B); max of A−B is max(A)−min(B) — and similarly for the minimums. | Calculating With Bounds: Addition and Subtraction |
| Error propagation | How error in input measurements carries through into the error of a calculated result. | Error Propagation in Calculations |
| Estimation | Finding an approximate answer quickly by rounding every number to significant figure first. | Estimation |
| Floating-point error | A tiny rounding error caused by a computer storing numbers in a fixed, limited binary format. | Floating-Point Numbers |
| Percentage error | Relative error written as a percentage: relative error × . | Relative and Percentage Error |
| Precision | How tightly repeated measurements cluster together. | Accuracy vs Precision |
| Relative error | Absolute error divided by the exact value. | Relative and Percentage Error |
| Rounding | Shortening a number to a fixed number of decimal places, using the next digit to decide up or down. | Rounding Numbers |
| Significant figures | The digits in a number that carry meaningful precision, starting from the first non-zero digit. | Significant Figures |
| Tolerance | A stated range around a value, often written as a value ± an amount, showing how much it is allowed to vary. | Checking and Interpreting Results |
| Truncation | Shortening a number by cutting off digits, without rounding. | Truncation vs Rounding |
| Upper and lower bounds | The largest and smallest exact values a rounded measurement could represent. | Upper and Lower Bounds |
More lessons in Numerical Precision, Accuracy and Errors · Previous: Course Exam