Question

describe possible sources of random and systematic errors in the following measurement. speeds of cars recorded by a police officer using a radar gun.
a. errors in the speedometers of the cars observed.
b. errors made by the police officer in reading the radar gun.
c. errors made by the police force when choosing which officer to check the speeds.
d. errors made by using a radar gun that is incorrectly calibrated and consistently reads high or low.
e. errors made when calibrating the radar gun.
f. errors made by the police officer in recording the speeds.
which of the following would be systematic errors in this situation? select all that apply.
a. errors made by an officer known to consistently read the radar gun output higher than the actual value displayed.
b. errors caused by the different makes and models of the cars observed.
c. errors occurring when analyzing the speeds.
d. errors in the speedometers of the cars observed.
e. errors made by the police force when choosing which officer to check the speeds.
f. errors made by the police force in using a radar gun that is known to be malfunctioning.

Explanation:

1. Random errors:

• Errors made by the police - officer in reading the radar gun can vary randomly from one reading to another.
• Errors made when calibrating the radar gun can introduce random variations in the measurements.
• Errors made by the police - officer in recording the speeds can also be random, such as mis - writing the numbers.

1. Systematic errors:

• An officer who consistently reads the radar gun output higher than the actual value is a source of systematic error as the error is in one direction consistently.
• A malfunctioning radar gun that gives incorrect readings in a consistent way (either always high or always low) is a systematic error source.

Answer:

Possible sources of random errors: B, E, F
Possible sources of systematic errors: A, F