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Propagation of Small Systematic Errors

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A similar concept to the rule of propagation of variances is used to determine how a small error in a measurement can be propagated through a calculation.

If X = f (x1, x2, ......x n)

then dX = ( df )dx1 + ( df )dx2 + . . . . + ( df )dxn
dx1 dx2 dxn

For example, if the required precision of a linear distance is to be 1:10,000, and we have a clinometer that can measure slope to +10’, can we use this clino to measure a line 200m long on a slope of 10°?

H = D Cosq
qH = -D Sinq x dq
D = 200 m, q = 10°
dq = +10' x  p 
180 x 60
  dH = +0.1010

So a precision of +0.1010 over 200m equals 1:2000, so we would need to use something else to measure the slope angle

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The Department of Geomatics
Maintained by:  Nicole Jones
Date Created:  June 1998