Measurement

What is a unit of measurement? How do I deal with measurement errors? Measurement is an important skill for everyday life but especially in fields of STEM.

These pages will enhance your understanding of measurement, units and how to deal with errors.

• Dimensions (PDF)
  All measurements need a value as well as a unit of measurement. All physical units of measurement can be broken down to a few component parts such as meters for length, seconds for time or kilograms for mass. Find out how complex physical units are built from basic components. From this you can better understand what the units represent, and check if a calculation has been made properly.
• Errors in measurement (PDF)
  How do I calculate the error in my experiment? Every measurement involves some inaccuracy and we explore this. Understand the types of errors that come up with measurements in your experiments and practical work.
• Errors in calculations (PDF)
  How do I calculate the error in my experiment? Every measurement involves some inaccuracy and we explore this. This document explains the types of errors that come up with measurements and calculations in your practical work.
• Scientific notation (PDF) and Engineering notation (PDF)
  How do I deal with a number with lots of zeros in it? Scientific and Engineering notation gives us a way to easily read values that may be very large or very small. Find out how to express very large or small measurements without having to use lots of digits and zeros.
• Rules for significant figures (PDF)
  Do I need to use all the numbers from my calculator? If there are a lot of digits in a measurement, we can assume that ascientist has measured to a high level of accuracy. However, measuring perfectly is not possible. We should not overstate how accurate we have been in making a measurement. Significant figures help us understand how certain we are about a result. Use this worksheet to learn how to interpret the accuracy of a calculated measurement.
• Calculations for significant figures (PDF)
  I have completed some calculations using values with different numbers of significant figures. How many significant figures do I report my answer to? Find out using this worksheet.