Which term describes the measure of how close a measurement is to the true value?

Which term describes the measure of how close a measurement is to the true value?

• A. Precision
• B. Accuracy
• C. Bias
• D. Variance

Answer: (B)

Closeness to the true value is called accuracy. It describes how near a measurement is to the actual, correct value—the smaller the difference, the higher the accuracy. Precision, in contrast, is about how tightly repeated measurements cluster together, regardless of how close they are to the true value. You can be highly precise but not accurate if your measurements are consistently off from the true value, or accurate but not precise if they’re spread out around the true value. Bias refers to a systematic error that skews all measurements in one direction, and variance is the overall spread of those measurements. So the term that matches “how close a measurement is to the true value” is accuracy.

Closeness to the true value is called accuracy. It describes how near a measurement is to the actual, correct value—the smaller the difference, the higher the accuracy. Precision, in contrast, is about how tightly repeated measurements cluster together, regardless of how close they are to the true value. You can be highly precise but not accurate if your measurements are consistently off from the true value, or accurate but not precise if they’re spread out around the true value. Bias refers to a systematic error that skews all measurements in one direction, and variance is the overall spread of those measurements. So the term that matches “how close a measurement is to the true value” is accuracy.