First Common Vocabulary

Lecture One Vocabulary (Measurement)

accuracy - the closeness of the measured value to the true or accepted value.  Note that although a series of measurements may have different values, the average of these measurements when they are taken together may be close to the measured value.  In this case, the set of measurements is said to be accurate.

precision - the reproducibility of repeated measurements of the same thing.  When a group of repeated measurements are all close to the same value, the measurements are said to be precise.

meter - the base unit of length in the metric system

kilogram - the fundamental unit of mass in the metric system

second - the base unit of time in the metric system

mole - the base unit of amount in the metric system

ampere - the base unit of electric current in the metric system

kelvin - the base unit of temperature in the metric system

candela - the base unit of luminous intensity in the metric system.