If repeated measurements yield values that are very close to each other but far from the true value, the measurements are

If repeated measurements yield values that are very close to each other but far from the true value, the measurements are

• A. Precise but not accurate.
• B. Accurate but precise.
• C. Neither accurate nor precise.
• D. Accurate but not precise.

Answer: (A)

Precision is about how similar repeated measurements are to each other, while accuracy is about how close those measurements are to the true value. If repeated measurements come out very close to one another but are far from the true value, they show high precision but low accuracy. Imagine arrows all bunched tightly in one spot, but that spot isn’t near the target’s center. So the situation described corresponds to precise but not accurate. If they were accurate but not precise, they’d be clustered near the true value but spread out. If they were both accurate and precise, they would cluster right at the true value. If neither, they’d be scattered and far from the true value.

Precision is about how similar repeated measurements are to each other, while accuracy is about how close those measurements are to the true value. If repeated measurements come out very close to one another but are far from the true value, they show high precision but low accuracy. Imagine arrows all bunched tightly in one spot, but that spot isn’t near the target’s center. So the situation described corresponds to precise but not accurate. If they were accurate but not precise, they’d be clustered near the true value but spread out. If they were both accurate and precise, they would cluster right at the true value. If neither, they’d be scattered and far from the true value.