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Equation 1 · How Scientific Instruments and Metrology Actually Work

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yy

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the if a measurement result. Read the equation part by part below; each part has a contextual explanation and a link to its mathematical background.

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yy

Symbol y

the if a measurement result.

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The GUM’s central move is to treat every measured or estimated quantity a result depends on as a random variable with its own estimated standard uncertainty, and then to propagate those uncertainties through the mathematical relationship that produces the final result. If a measurement result y is a function of N input quantities, y = f(x1x_1, x2x_2, …\ldots, xNx_N) , the combined standard uncertainty is obtained from a first-order Taylor expansion of that function:

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