Please help with this Question!

Question

Consider the following data set. What would this data set look like if the measurements were more precise?

Time (mm:ss)	Mass (g)
00:00	614
00:05	603
00:10	595
00:15	593
00:20	593

Answer 1

I'm not sure what you're asking, but the data set looks like exponential decay.

If it is exponential decay, the you should be able model the data with a function of the form

m = e^–a(t–b) + c

where m = mass (g) and t = time (s)

a, b, and c are parameters that could be determined by a curve fitting procedure which, in the particular case, would be called exponential regression.

Answer 2

I assume this question is trying to get at the difference between accuracy and precision. Accurate answers are all centered around the true value of the measurement (so, if the mass is actually 600g, these would be pretty accurate). Precise measurements are all clustered very closely around the same number. So, for example, all of the numbers could be in the range of 613-615g or 593-594g. Either set would be more precise than these, but not necessarily more accurate. Again, assuming that the mass is 600g, for a data set to be accurate and very precise, they would all need to be very close to 600g. Hope this helps.