Question

a student measures the length of a steel rod and finds it to be 23.486 cm long. the accepted value of the length of the steel rod is 23.490 cm. calculate the percent error.

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate the error

Error = |Measured value - Accepted value|
Error = |23.486 - 23.490| = |- 0.004| = 0.004

Step2: Calculate the percent - error

Percent error = $\frac{\text{Error}}{\text{Accepted value}}\times100\%$
Percent error = $\frac{0.004}{23.490}\times100\%$
Percent error $\approx0.017\%$

Answer:

0.017%