← All parts of this equation

Equation 4 · Part 26 · How Scientific Instruments and Metrology Actually Work

Numerator: partial f

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)
∂f\partial f

What this part means

The complete quantity above the fraction bar.

Its job in the formula

partial f occurs above the fraction bar. The numerator is divided by the entire denominator below it.

The passage around this formula

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: 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 final result is to that input (the partial derivative, or “sensitivity coefficient”).…

Read this part in the article →

Learn the underlying idea

A fraction a/b means a divided by b. The top number is the numerator; the bottom number is the denominator, and it cannot be zero.

Open the illustrated fractions: division written vertically guide →

Sources cited in the surrounding passage

These citations provide research context; check each source for the exact claim it supports.