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Equation 4 · Part 25 · How Scientific Instruments and Metrology Actually Work

Ending index or upper bound: N

uc2(y)=∑i=1N(∂f∂xi)2u2(xi)  +  2∑i=1N−1∑j=i+1N∂f∂xi∂f∂xj u(xi,xj)u_c^2(y) = \sum_{i=1}^{N} \left(\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}\right)^2 u^2(x_i) \;+\; 2\sum_{i=1}^{N-1}\sum_{j=i+1}^{N} \frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_j}\, u(x_i, x_j)
NN

What this part means

This label says where the repeated addition, multiplication, or accumulation stops. It sets the last term or end of the range.

Its job in the formula

N appears in the bound of this sum. The bound states where the repeated operation starts, ends, or which values it includes.

The passage around this formula

…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: uc2(y)=∑i=1N(∂f∂xi)2u2(xi)  +  2∑i=1N−1∑j=i+1N∂f∂xi∂f∂xj u(xi,xj)u_c^2(y) = \sum_{i=1}^{N} \left(\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}\right)^2 u^2(x_i) \;+\; 2\sum_{i=1}^{N-1}\sum_{j=i+1}^{N} \frac{\partial f}{\partial x_i}\frac{\partial f}{\partial x_j}\, u(x_i, x_j). The first sum is the familiar root-sum-of-squares combination of independent contributions, each weighted by how sensitive the…

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Learn the underlying idea

Σ adds a collection of terms. Π multiplies them. The lower and upper labels tell you which terms belong to the collection.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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