Præcisionen

Præcisionen is a Danish term used to denote the quality of being precise or exact. In scientific and engineering contexts, it refers to the degree to which repeated measurements or computations yield similar results, i.e., the level of variability. Precision is often contrasted with accuracy, which describes how close a measurement is to the true value. High precision does not guarantee correctness if systematic error is present, while high accuracy can occur even with lower precision if measurements are consistently centered around the true value.

Etymology and usage: The word derives from the French précision, via Latin precisio; in Danish the definite form is præcisionen. The term is widely used in metrology, manufacturing, computing, statistics and everyday language to describe exactness and consistency.

Applications: In metrology and instrumentation, precision characterizes the repeatability of a device, such as a ruler or scale. In computing, precision can refer to the number of significant digits or the data type used (for example, single- or double-precision floating point). In statistics, precision relates to the inverse of variance, influencing the width of confidence intervals. In linguistics or communication, precision refers to clarity and specificity of expression.

Limitations: The notion of precision depends on context and measurement framework, including calibration, sampling, and measurement protocol. Without consistent standards, high precision can reflect a systematic bias rather than true closeness to a target.

See also: accuracy, metrology, measurement, repeatability, reproducibility, precision and recall.