Since no measurement of a physical quantity is infinitely accurate, it is important to determine how much a measured value will most likely deviate from the unknown, true value of the quantity. There are three important metrics for the quality of a repeated measurement:
- Resolution is the fineness to which an instrument can be read.
- Precision is the fineness to which an instrument can be read repeatedly and reliably.
- Accuracy is how close a measured value is to the actual value.
Think of an archer, trying to shoot a target:
