This course has been discontinued
This 3-hour interactive course presents the basic concepts of Significant Figures and Round-off Errors in computations using Measured Data. The emphasis is on understanding these concepts so that measurements can be expressed to an appropriate number of significant figures and round-off errors can be avoided in computations.
Key goals are teaching the student to:
- Analyze the significant figures in observations (readings)
- Analyze the significant figures in computed results
- Control round-off errors in calculations to the point of rendering them negligible in their effect on results.
This course is for licensed surveyors, surveying technicians, geodesists, photogrammetrists, engineers, geologists, geographic/land information system personnel, foresters, scientists, mathematicians, teachers and professors who teach basic mathematics and science, and anyone else who uses measurements and must perform or supervise others in calculations using measured data. It is also excellent preparation for licensing exams in land surveying and engineering.
Everything in this course is presented from the 'Point of View' of a surveyor. However, so as to encourage study of this course by others, the material and the test questions are presented at a level that people other than surveyors should be able to follow. A glossary of terms is given for non-surveyors.
This course and the one entitled 'The Theory of Measurement' by this instructor should be considered a prerequisite for more advanced courses that deal with surveying measurements and computations.
There will be a quiz at the end of this course.