Uncertainty Analysis-Cambridge University

Textbook:
Uncertainty Analysis for Engineers and Scientists: A Practical Guide
Author(s): Faith A. Morrison


Course desription:
This coursebook is not a compilation of formulas with no context. The text engages the reader in the issue of the quality of numbers that come from instruments and calculators. The presence of 16 digits in a calculator obscures the fact that the actual precision of the answer is probably quite small and may contain only one or two (and perhaps zero) significant digits. We also guide the reader to ask questions about calculations, such as how to identify the dominant source of uncertainty in the result. We show the reader how to use some modern tools (Microsoft Excel and MATLAB) to make error calculations, allowing us to run trial scenarios to see how uncertainty affects final answers.
Practicing engineers and scientists can be passionate about practical expertise, such as knowing which kind of meter or device is reliable in a given circumstance, or understanding that, in the appropriate context, almost any number can be “essentially zero” or “below our ability to measure.” That kind of expertise is often hard-won through experience, but it can be learned systematically with the study of error analysis. We see in this book how to interrogate our devices to determine the extent to which we can rely on them.
The book is divided into six chapters:

1. Introduction and Definitions
2. Quick Start: Replicate Error Basics 3. Reading Error
4. Calibration Error
5. Error Propagation
6. Model Fitting