Accuracy vs Precision

The purpose of the discussion activities is for you to express in your own words what you have learned on a specific topic. You will also learn from the collective knowledge of your classmates and instructor

The industrial manufacture of medical devices like anesthesia machines and respiratory ventilators requires close attention to detail. Small design deviations can cause the instrument to fail, with potentially life-ending consequences. In an anesthesia machine, a plastic fitting that is just millimeters off from the specified manufacture size can result in a gas leak, either delivering insufficient oxygen or anesthetic gases (mixture of nitrous oxide and/or desflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane).

 Consider: The terms accuracy and precision are often confused. In your own words, distinguish between these two. Explain how an error in the anesthesia machine fitting could influence accuracy and precision. Some concepts to consider when crafting your initial post are:

· types of errors in measurements

· uncertainty in measurements and significant figures

· error vs. uncertainty

· instrument calibration

· how significant figures reported for the instrument component’s dimensions relate to accuracy and/or precision

· implications of inaccuracy in component dimensions

· implications of imprecision in component dimensions

Note: This is not a comprehensive list of topics to cover in your initial post. There’s certainly more to go over. Not all initial posts must cover each of these points. These are here to help guide your work in crafting the initial post.